LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



iptjt. iq 



ilpqt. iopiFB^ $"♦----- 

ShelfvC'S- ' 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



TALKS TO BOYS AND GIRLS 



ABOUT JESUS, 



I BIBLE LINKS 



A COMPLETE AND CHRONOLOGICAL 

LIFE OF CHRIST FOR THE YOUNG. 



REV. WJ-T. CRAFTS, 

AUTHOR OF "THE RESCUE OF CHILD-SOUL," " PLAIN USES OF THE 
BLACKBOARD," ETC. 



NEW YORK: 
I. K. FUNK & CO., 10 & 12 DEY STREET. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, 

By I. K. FUNK & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington* 




Feed my lambs. — yesus. 

We may as soon set aside the command, " Feed my sheep," and 
claim to be faithful pastors as set aside the command " Feed my lambs" 
and claim to be faithful. — Rev. Wm. Reid. 

Friendly the Teacher stood, like an angel of light there among them, 
And to the children explained he the holy, the highest in few words, 
Thorough, yet simple and clear, for sublimity always is simple, 
Both in sermon and song a child can seize on its meaning. 

Longfellow. 

I am satisfied that the day is coming when in our church, and in all 
the churches of the world, we shall look chiefly to the conversion of 
children, and as a comparatively rare instance to the conversion of 
those in maturer years. — BisJiop Simpson. 

We can raise more Christians by juvenile Christian culture than by 
adult conversion — a thousand to one. — Dr. y. G. Holland. 

We have not yet learned that the church as well as the man is 
blessed that hath a quiver full of children. — Rev. S. R. Dennen. 

Nothing is easier than to talk to children ; but to talk to them as they 
ought to be talked to, is the very last effort of ability. A man must have 
a vigorous imagination. He must have extensive knowledge, to call in 
illustration from the four corners of the earth ; for he will make but 
little progress, but by illustration. It requires great genius to throw the 
mind into the habits of children's minds. I aim at this, but I find it the 
utmost effort of ability. No sermon ever put my mind half so much on 
the stretch. — Cecil. 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



The purposes of this volume are as follows : — 

First, to give an impetus to the growing custom of 
preaching to children, by putting before preachers who 
are interested in this subject a large variety of sermons to 
boys and girls, from the persons of all denominations who 
have given special attention to this branch of Christian 
work, both in Great Britain and in the United States. 

Second, to provide children and Sunday-school teach- 
ers with clear and simple explanations, illustrations, and 
applications of the lessons on the Life of Christ, which is 
usually the theme of at least half the year — sometimes, as 
in 1882, of the whole year. 

Third, to furnish to Christian parents a pleasant plan 
of Bible reading with their children, by an arrangement of 
the four Gospels chronologically — that is, in the order of 
the events — with sermons to boys and girls inserted at 
frequent intervals, to explain the readings and make them 
interesting and impressive. 

Most of the sermons in this volume, as their brevity 
would indicate, are literally "five-minute sermons," such 
as are regularly preached by those contributing them in 



VI EDITOR S PREFACE. 

each Sunday morning service before the longer sermon to 
the whole congregation, and usually separated from it by 
a hymn. In some cases, the little sermon is on the same 
subject as the longer sermon, and serves as an introduction. 
In other cases, it is on the Sunday-school lesson for the 
day. In yet others, the theme is furnished by the season 
or passing events — "The Snow," "The Flowers," etc. 
In still other cases, it has been found to add to the inter- 
est to preach a series of these brief sermons on such sub- 
jects as " The Life of Jesus," " The Bible," " The Lord's 
Prayer," " The Birds and Foxes of the Bible," etc. 

Others of our contributors preach longer sermons to the 
children once a month or once a quarter, regularly, giving 
up a whole service to the children. 

The former plan of preaching a short sermon to the 
children every Sunday is, however, the one most fre- 
quently adopted, as it brings the boys and girls to the 
church every Sunday, and really answers that most trou- 
blesome question of religious conventions, " How shall we 
secure the regular attendance of children at church ?" 

Those who excuse themselves for not preaching to chil- 
dren, on the score that they have no natural gift for it, 
would do well to remember that it was to Peter — the very 
one, as tradition says, who had so little appreciation of 
children that he sought to keep them back from Christ 
when they came for blessings — that Jesus said, " Feed my 
lambs." 

The art of effective speaking, whether to children or 
adults, is secured only by earnest study and preparation. 
Theological seminaries and individual preachers may well 



EDITORS PREFACE. 



ask if a minister's studies ought not to be aimed at fitting 
him to obey more than one-third of the great commission : 
" Feed my sheep." 
"Shepherd my sheeplings." 
"Feed my lambs"? 
If these sermons shall aid any of Christ's shepherds in 
carrying out the Chief Shepherd's commissions in regard to 
the lambs of the flock, and lead them in their sermons to 
' ' lead on softly, according as the children be able to en- 
dure" (Genesis 33. 14), it will have accomplished its chief 
purpose. 

We hope these pages may also be helpful to the noble 
army of Sunday-school teachers ; and that many mothers 
and children at Christian firesides will find the story of 
Jesus made clearer and dearer, as they follow it through 
from the manger to the cross, by the aid of this book. 

W. F. C. 



CONTENTS. 



Editor's Preface. ........ 5 



Subjects. 

Introductory. — What Religious 
Truths should we Teach to 
Children ? . 

The Children's Portion in the 
Sabbath Service 

Sernionettes 

Birth of John the Baptist Fore- 
told 

The Mother of Jesus 

John, the Herald of Jesus 

Fortune-telling, or the Birth of 
John, the Baptizer 

The Birth of Jesus 

"No Boom for Jesus 

The Birth of Jesus 

The Lord's Name Day 

Herod's Slaughter of the Children 

Boyhood of Jesus 

The Child Jesus 

Walking in the Footsteps of 



Jesus Healing the Leper 

Power to Forgive 

The Pharisees Answered 

Christ and his Disciples 

Thy Kingdom Come 

Three Words from the Lilies. 

Parable of the Sower 

Growth of the Kingdom 

Christ Stilling the Tempest. . 

Power over Evil Spirits, 

Jesus bringing Dead Children to 

Life 

Death 

Becoming Jesus' Disciples by 

Repentance 

Death of John the Baptist. . . . 



Mal.4:6 

Luke 1:17.... 

Mark 3 : 35. . . . 
Luke 1:76..., 

Luke 1:66..., 
Matt. 1:21... 

Luke 2; 7 

Luke 2:8-20. 
Luke 2: 21... 
Matt. 2:16... 
Luke 2:52... 
Luke 2:40... 



Jno. 1 : 43 

Mark 1 : 40-45, 
Mark 2: 7-10. 
Mark 2: 24... , 
Mark 3: 6-19. 
Matt. 6 : 10. . . 
Matt. 6:28... 

Luke 8:5 

Mark 4 : 26-29 
Mark 4 : 35^1 
Mark 5: 15... 

Mark 5 : 21-43 
Luke 8: 52... 

Mark 6: 12... 
Mark 6 .-14-29 



Dean Stanley., 



Rev. A. MacLeod, D.D. 
Rev. Eli Corwin, D.D. . 



Bishop Coxe 

Rev.W. F. Crafts.. 



Rev. W. W. Newton. 
Rev.W. F. Crafts.... 



John Ruskin 

Rev.W. F. Crafts., 



Dean Stanley. , 



Rev. W. F. Crafts . 

Josiah Spiers.; 

Clayton Welles 



Rev. Richard Cofdley, 
Rev. J. H. Wilson. . . . 
Rev. W. B.Wright, D.D. 
Rev. Mark Gay Pearse, 

T. B. Bishop 

Rev. Richard Cordley.. 
Rev. Geo. B. Phipps. . . 

Rev. W. F. Crafts 

Rev. J. G. Merrill 



Rev. Lyman Abbott, D.D 
Rev. B. T. Vincent. 



94 
100 
105 
107 
109 
113 
129 
134 
141 
149 
153 

155 

158 

160 
164 



CONTEXTS. 



Subjects. 

A Lad who lived long ago. 

Jesus Walking on the Sea ' 

God wants Clean Hearts as well! 
as Clean Hands 

Jesus Healing Sick Children 

Feeding of the Four Thousand. . . 

Seeing and Confessing Jesus 

The Bad Bargain 

The Child in the Midst 

The Transfiguration 

The Resurrection 

Christ Blessing Little Children. . 

The Children's Church 

The Rich Young Ruler 

Suffering and Service j 

Blind Bartimaeus 

How the Hardest Case in Jericho 
was Converted 

Children Singing the Praises of 
Jesus 

Why Children should be Glad for 
Christ 

Fruitful and Fruitless Lives 

Prayer and Forgiveness, 

Christ Silences the Pharisees and 
Sadducees 

The Great Commandment | 

Not Enough to he Half Saved. 

Wide Awake 

The Anointing at Bethany 

The Passover 

Jesus, the Child's Guide to 
Heaven 

The Last Supper 

The Agony in Gethsemane. 

Jesus Betrayed and Taken. 

Jesus Eefore the Council.. . 

Jesus Before Pilate 

The Sufferings and Death of 
Jesus 

Christ Dying in Our Stead 

Forgiveness through Christ 

Pearls of the Cross 

Forty days after Jesus' Resur- 
rection 

Christ Interceding 

After the Resurrection and As- 
cension 

Plan of Bible Reading in the 
Order of Events 



Texts. Preachers. Page 

John 6 : 1-14. . Rev. W. F. Crafts 1T0 

Mark 6 : 48 ... [Rev. E. B. Synder, D.D. 171 



Mark 7 : 
Mark 17 
Mark 8 
Matt. 16 
Mark 8 : 
Mark 9 : 
Mark 9: 
Jno. 11 : 
Mark 10 
Mark 10 
Mark 10 
Mark 10 
Mark 10 



1-23. 
:18.. 
1-21. 
:16.. 

,31 

2-10. 
25... 
14.. 
:14... 

17-31 
:45... 
: 46-52 



iRev. W. F. Crafts.. 



Rev. B. T. Vincent 

Rev. A. F. Schanffler ..' 
Rev. Eli Corwin. D.D.. 
Rev. L. D. Bevan,D.D. 



179 
183 
168 
193 
197 
200 



Richard Newton, D.D.. 

Rev.W. F. Crafts 

Rev. J. G.Merrill 

Rev. Anna Oliver 

Rev. A. F. Schanffler.. 

Mr. E. T. M. Dennis... 

Rev. Jesse Bowman 

Young 



Matt. 21 : 15. . . Rev. W. F. Crafts 

Rev. Alexander Mac- 
| Leod, D.D 

Mark 11 : 12-23 Bishop Thos. M. Clark. 

Mark 11 : 24-33 Rev. G. C. Xoyes 



Mark 12: 13-27 
Mark 12 : 28-44 
Mark 13: 13... 
Mark 13:36... 
Mark 14: 4.... 
Mark 14 : 12-21 Rev. J. G. Merrill. . 



Rev. Cyrus Hamlin . . . 
Rev. L. F. Burgess — 
Rev. Eli Corwin, D.D. 



Rev. Geo. G. Phipps.. 



251 
262 



278 
286 
295 
297 
300 



Rev. E. P. Hammond . 

Mark 14: 22-31 Rev. J. G. Merrill. 
Mark 14: 32-42 
Mark 14 : 43-^54 
Mark 14 : 55-72 
Mark 15: 1-15. 



Mark 15 : 16-26 
1 Cor. 15:3... 
Ps. 32:1 



Rev. E. P. Hammond. 
Rev. W. F. Crafts 



Mark 16: 9-20. 
Heb. 7:25 



307 
315 
318 
321 
324 
SE7 

331 
341 

" I 344 

Rev. J. H. Vincent, D.D 346 



Rev. Jas. Vaughan 352 

Rev. John Todd, D.D. . 363 



Rev. W. F. Crafts 371 

I 376 



CONTENTS. 

INTERNATIONAL LESSONS FOR 1882. 
Studies in the Gospe' According to Mark. 



FIRST QUARTER. 

January 1. Page 

1. TJie Beginning of the Gospel. Mark 1 : 1-13. Memory verses : 
9-11. 

Golden Text. Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare 

the way before me. Mai. 3 : 1. 39, 49, 54 

January 8. 

2. Jesus in Galilee. Mark 1 : 14-28. Memory verses : 27, 28. 
Golden Text. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great 

light. Isa. 9:2. 94, 160 

January 15. 

3. Foiver to Ileal. Mark 1 : 29-45. Memory verses : 40-42. 

Golden Text. I am the Lord that healeth thee." Exod. 15 : 26. 100 

January 22. 

4. Voiver to Forgive. Mark 2: 1-17. Memory verses : 8-12. 
Golden Text. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for 

mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Isa. 43 : 25. " 105 

January 29. 
.7. Tlie Pharisees Answered. Mark 2 : 18-28, and 3 : 1-5. Memory 
verses : 3 : 1-5. 

Golden Text. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exod. 

20 : 8. 107 

February 5» 

6. Christ and Jiis Disciples. Mark 3:6-19. Memory verses: 
13-15. 

Golden Text. Te have not chosen me, but T have chosen you, and 

ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit. John 15 : 16. 109 

February 12. 

7. Clirist's Foes and Friends. Mark 3 : 20-33. Memory verses : 
31-35. 

Golden Text. He that is not with me is against me. Matt. 12 : 30. 45 

February 19. 

8. Varahle. of the Sower. Mark 4 : 1-20. Memory verses : 3-8. 
Golden Text. He that hath an ear, let him hear whai the Spirit saith 

unto the churches. Rev. 2 : 29. 134 

February 26. 

9. The Growth of the Kingdom, Mark 4: 21-34. Memory verses : 
30-32. 

Golden Text. There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top 
of the mountains ; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon. Psa.72 : 16. 

March 5. 113 ' m 

10. Christ Stilling the Tempest. Mark 4: 35-41. Memory verses : 
37-41. 

Golden Text. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof 

are still. Psa. 107 : 29. 149 

March 12. 

11. Voiver over Evil Spirits. Mark5:l-20. Memory verses ; 18-20. 
Golden Text. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he 

might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3 : 8. 153 

March 19. 

12. Power over Disease and Death. Mark 5 : 21-43. Memory 
verses : 21-23. 

Golden Text. Be not afraid, only believe. Verse 36, 155, 158 

March 26. 

13. Review, or Lesson selected by the school. 113 



xii CONTENTS. 

SECOND QUARTER. 

April 2. Page 

1. The Mission of the Twelve. Mark 6 : 1-13. Memory verses : 
10-12. 

Golden Text. He that receiveth you receiveth me ; and he that receiv- 
me receiveth him that sent me. Matt. 10 : 40. 160 

April 9. 

2. Death of John the Baptist. Mark 6 : 14-29. Memory verses : 
14-16. 

Golden Text. The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasbeth upon 

him with his teeth. Psa. 37 : 12. 164 

April 16. 

3. The Five Thousand Fed. Mark 6 : 30-44. Memory verses : 41-44. 
Golden Text. 1 will abundantly bless her provision : 1 will satisfy her 

poor with bread. Psa. 132: 15. 170 

April 23. 

4. Christ Walking on the Sea. Mark 6 : 45-56. Memory verses: 
47-50. 

Golden Text. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with 
thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. Isa. 43 : 2. 174 

April SO. 

5. Tlie Tradition of Men. Mark 7 : 1-23. Memory verses : 9-13. 
Golden Text. In vain do they worship mc, teaching for doctrines the 

commandments of men. Verse 7. 171 

Mat 7. 
O. Sufferers Brought to Christ. Mark 7 : 24-37. Memory verses : 
26-30. 

Golden Text. The Lord is good to all : and his tender mercies are over 

all his works. Psa. 145 : 9. 133 

Mat 14. 

7. The Leaven of the l*harisees. Mark 8 : 1-21. Memory verses : 
14-17. 

Golden Te rt. Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypo- 
crisy. Luke 12 : 1. 188 
Mat 21. 

8. Seeing and Confessing the Christ. Mark 8 : 22-33. Memory 
verses: 27-29. 

Golden Text. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the jiving God. Matt. 

16:16. 193 

Mat 28. 

9. Following Christ. Mark 8:34-38, and 9: 1. Memory verses: 34-37. 
Golden Text. Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and 

take up his cross, and follow me. Verse 34. 197, 94 



10. The Transfiguration. Mark 9: 2-18. Memory verses : 5-8. 
Golden- Text. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved 

Son, in whom I am well pleased. Matt. 3 : 17. 200 

June 11. 

11. The Afflicted Child. Mark 9 : 14-32. Memory verses : 21-24. 
Golden Text. All things are possible to him that beheveth. Verse 28. 183 

June 18. 

12. The Child -Wee Believer. Mark 9:33-50. Memory verses: 35-37. 
Golden Text. I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is 

of a contrite and humble spirit. Isa. 57 : 15. 208, 17 

June 25. 

13. Review, or Lesson selected by the schoo 129 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

THIRD QUARTER, 

July 2. Page 

1, A Lesson on Home. Mark 10 : 1-16. Memory verses : 13-16. 
Golden, Text. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. Psa. 

101:2. 228,233 

July 9. 

2. Tlie Rich Young Man. Mark 10 : 17-31 . Memory verses : 21-24. 
Golden Text. One thing thou lackest. Verse 21. 229 



3. Suffering and Service. Mark 10 : 32-45. Memory verses: 42-45. 
Golden Text. The Son of man came not to he ministered unto, hut to 

minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Verse 45. 233 

July 23. 

4. Blind Bart linens. Mark 10 : 43-52. Memory verses : 46-52. 
Golden Text. The eyes of the blind shall be opened. Isa. 35 : 5. 236 

July 30. 

5. The Triumphal Entrtf '. Mark 11: 1-11. Memory verses : 7-10. 
Golden Text. Rejoice greatly, O daughter ol'Zion : shout, O daughter 

of Jerusalem : behold thy King cometh unto thee. Zech. 9 : 9. 247, 251 

August 6. 

6. The Fruitless Tree. Mark 11 : 12-23. Memory verses : 12-14. 
Golden Text. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. 

John 15: 8. 263 

August 13. 

7. Prayer and Forgiveness. Mark 11:24-33. Memory verses: 
24-26. 

Golden Text. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Matt. 

6:12. 268,344 

August 20. 

8. The Wicked Husbandmen. Mark 12: 1-12. Memory verses : 
0-11. 

Golden Text. The stone which the builders refused is become the 
head stone of the corner. Psa. 118 : 22. 72 

August 27. 

.9. Pharisees and Sadducees Silenced. Mark 12 : 13-27. Memory 
verses: 14-17. 

Golden Text. Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise 
of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. 1 Tim. 4:8. 278 

September 3. 

10. Love to God and Men, Mark 12 : §8-44. Memorv verses : 29-31. 
Golden Text. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, 

and with ah thy soul, and with all thy might. I)eut. 6:5. 286 

September 10. 

11. Calamities Foretold. Mark 13: 1-20. Memory verses : 9-11. 
Golden Text. A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself. 

Prov. 22 : 3. 295 

September 17. 

12. Watchfulness Enjoined. Mark 13:21-37. Memory verses: 
33-37. 

Golden Text. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others ; but let us watch 

and be sober. 1 Thess. 5 : 6. 297 

September 24. 

13. Review, or Lesson selected by the school , . 81, 211 



Xiv CONTENTS. 

FOURTH QUARTER. 

October 1. Page 

1. The Anointing at liethany, Mark 14:1-11. Memory verses : 
6-9. 

Golden Text. She bath done what she could. Yerse 8. 300 



'J. The Passover, Mark 14:12-21 Memory verse? : IT-21. 

Golden Text. It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover. Exod, 12:27. £03 

October 15. 

3. Th e Turd's Sapper. Mark 14 : 12-31. Memory verses : 23-26. 
Golden Te-t. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye 
do show the Lord's death till he come. 1 Cor. 11 : 26. 315 

October 22. 

i. The Agony in the Garden. Mark 14:32-43. !lcr.iory Verses: 
33-36. 

Golden Ted. Surely he hath borne cur griefs, end carried our sor- 
rows. Isa. 53:4. 318 
October 29. 

8. Jesus Betrayed and Taken. Mirk 14 : 43-54. Memory verses : 

Gdtden Text. The Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 

Mark 14 : 41. 321 

November 5. 

(>. Jesus before t/ie Council. Mark 14:55-70. Memorv verses: 
61-64. 

Golden Text. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep 
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Isa. 53 • 7. 324 

November 12. 
7. Jesun before Pilate. Mark 15: 1-15. Memory verses : 12.15. 
Golden Text. He is despised and rejected of men. * Isa. 53:3. 327 

November 19. 
S. Jesus ?Iocked and Citicified. Mark 15 : 16-26. Memory verses : 
22-26. 

Golden Text. They pierced my hands and my feet. Psa. £2 : 16. 331 

November 26. 

9. Hut Death on the Cross. Mark 15 : 27 37. Memory verses : ?3-37, 
Golden Text. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the 

tree. 1 Pet. 2: 24. 341 

December 3. 

10. After his Death. Mark 15 : 38-47. Memory verses : 43-46. 
Golden Text. Truly this man was the Son of God. Yerse 39. 344, 346 

December 10. 

11. His Resurrection. Mark 16:1-8. Memory verses : 6-8 
Golden Text. Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first- 
fruits of them that slept. 1 Cor. 15: 20. 213 

December 17. 

l'J. After his Tfest/rreetion. Mark 16 : 9-20. Memory verses: 15-20. 

Golden Text. And he said unto them. Go ye into all the world, and 

preach the gospel to every creature. Yerse 15. 363 



December 24. 
13. Lesson selected by the school 



December 31. 
14. Review, or Lesson selected bv the school 77, 307. 346 



LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. 



DEAN STANLEY, 

BISHOP COXE, 

REV. W. F. CRAFTS, 

REV. W. W. NEWTON, 

JOHN RUSKIN, 

JOSIAH SPIERS, 

REV. CLAYTON WELLES, 

REV. RICHARD CORDLEY, 

REV. WM. B. WRIGHT, D.D. 

REV. MARK GUY PEARSE, 

T. B. BISHOP, 

REV. J. G. MERRILL, 

REV. GEO. G. PHIPPS, 

REV. LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D. 

REV. B. T. VINCENT, 

REV. JOHN 



REV, E. B. SNYDER, D.D. 
REV. ELI CORWIN, D.D. 
REV. R. NEWTON, D.D. 
REV. ANNA OLIVER, 
REV. L. D. BEVAN, D.D. 
E. T. M. DENNIS, 
JESSE BOWMAN YOUNG, 
REV. ALEX. MacLEOD, D.D. 
BISHOP CLARKE, 
REV. G. C. NOYES, 
REV. CYRUS HAMLIN, 
REV. C. F. BURGESS, 
REV. E. P. HAMMOND, 
REV. J. H. VINCENT, D.D. 
REV. JAMES VAUGHAN, 
TODD, D.D. 



ILLUSTRATIONS.* 



BIBLE LANDS. 

1 Bird's-eye View of Jerusalem - Frontispiece. 

page. 

2 Nazareth 45 

3 The Jordan -. 49 

4 Gate of Bethlehem 75 

5 Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee 149 

6 Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives ... 247 

7 Mount of Olives 352 

PUBLISHERS' APPENDIX. 

8 Mount Tabor 381 

9 Hebron 383 

10 Mountains of Lebanon, as seen from Beirut - 385 

11 Scene in Lebanon -------- 337 

12 Acre 389 

13 Mount Carmel 391 

14 Sidon 393 

15 Jaffa - - 395 

16 Valley of Jehoshaphat ------- 397 

17 The Dead Sea 399 

18 Colonnade at Samaria -- 401 

19 Nabulus, or Shechem -- 403 

20 Petra 405 

* PUBLISHERS' NOTE. 
For these very fine engravings we are indebted to Young's 
Biblical Treasury— a work invaluable to all students of the Bible, 
and one fitly illustrated by so fine engravings. Its author is Dr. 
Robert Young, of Edinburgh, whose Concordance to the Bible is 
a lasting monument to the heroic Biblical scholarship of the century. 



INTRODUCTORY PAPERS. 



WHAT RELIGIOUS TRUTHS SHOULD WE TEACH 
TO CHILDREN? 

Preached on the Eve of Innocents' Day (St. John's Dai/), 1879, in 
Westminster Abbey. 

By A. P. STANLEY, D. D., Dean of Westminster. 

/ have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk 
in truth. — 3 John, 4. 

As once before, so now, we have brought you together 
on St. John's Day because Innocents' Day falls on a Sun- 
day. Those words which I have read from St. John well 
express what all of us ought to feel : ' ' We have no greater 
joy than that our children — than that the rising generation — 
should walk in truth." And I have, therefore, thought it 
useful to set forth what are the religious truths which we 
should try to teach our children, and which our children 
should try to learn. Some of what I say will chiefly be 
addressed to parents and friends ; some of what I say will 
be chiefly addressed to children. But most will find — 
some in one part, some in another — something to instruct 
them. 

There are two points to be mentioned at the outset 
which might seem difficult to reconcile, but which in fact 



18 INTRODUCTORY PAPERS. 

wonderfully agree, and are a support to each other. On 
the one hand, what we teach to children should be truths 
which will stand the wear and tear of time as they grow 
up. Solomon says, " Train up a child in the way he 
should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." 
That is very true ; but in order that he should not when he 
is old depart from it, it must be a way which, when he is 
old, he will find to be as good for him as it was when he 
was young. On the other hand, we must try to teach a 
child what he will understand, in the simplest and not in 
the hardest words — in the words which sink deepest into 
his soul and lay most hold on his heart. This, perhaps, 
we might think, cannot be the truth in which the child will 
feel most delight when it grows older. Not perhaps in the 
very same forms ; but we may be sure, and our Saviour 
himself has told us, that the instruction which is most suit- 
able for a little child is also the most suitable for the oldest 
and wisest of men. 

I. — What then shall we teach our children to believe, 
which when they grow up they may find that later experi- 
ence does not require them to alter ? 

(1.) We must teach them that beyond what they feel 
and see and touch, there is something better and greater 
which they can neither feel nor see nor touch. Goodness, 
kindness to one another, unselfishness, fairness and up- 
rightness — these are the best things in all the world. It is 
true that goodness and kindness have no faces that we can 
kiss — no hands that we can clasp ; but these are certainly 
close to us, both in the midst of our work and our play. And 
this goodness and kindness which, except in outward acts, 
we cannot see, is something which existed before we were 
born. It is from this that we have all the pleasant things 
of this world — the flowers, the sunshine, the moonlight ; 
all these were given us by some great kindness and good- 
ness which we have never seen at all. And this Goodness 



WHAT TO TEACH CHILDREN. 



and Love are the Great Power out of which all things come, 
which we call by the name of God. And because God is 
so much above us and so good to us, we call Him by the 
name which is most dear to us of all earthly names — our 
Father. "When a father goes away from home, still his 
children know that he is somewhere, though they cannot 
see him, and they know what to do in order to please him. 
So it is with the great unseen Father of us all. Let us 
then teach our children that God is Goodness and Justice ; 
that the rules which He has laid down for the government 
of the world are His will and wish for us ; even frost and 
cold, even sickness and pain, are for our good, and we must 
trust that He has some good reason for it — perhaps to make 
us strong, and brave, and healthy. It is for this reason 
that you see in the Abbey, on the monument of Sir John 
Franklin, who was so long shut up in the ice, the Avords 
" O ye Frost and Cold ; O ye Ice and Snow ; bless ye the 
Lord ; praise Him and magnify His name for ever." This 
then, in various ways, is our way of expressing our belief 
in our Father in heaven. 

(2.) But this highest kindness and fairness are like what 
we have seen and heard of in the world. Children can see 
it in their good parents, their good uncles and aunts, their 
good brothers and sisters ; and as they grow older they will 
find that there have always been good people, and they will 
hear that there was once one Child, one Man, so good to 
all about Him, so good to little children, that He has shown 
us better than any one else what is the true likeness of that 
unseen Goodness which we call God, and which we still 
hope to know in heaven. Children should be taught what 
Jesus Christ did and said when He went about doing good, 
and should be made to understand that only so far as we 
are like to Jesus Christ, or like what Jesus Christ taught 
when He was in the world, that we can be His friends or 
followers. He was good, and He went through all sorts 



20 INTRODUCTORY PAPERS. 

of trouble and pain even to His death on the cross, for no 
other reason but to make us good. This will help us to 
understand why He is called the Son of God, the Saviour 
of men. 

(3.) And children should learn to know that there is in 
the heart of every one of us something which tells when we 
have done right or wrong — which makes the color come into 
our cheeks when we have said what is not true — which Ave 
must treat with honor both in ourselves and others. What 
is this I There are many names by which you will hear it 
called in after life, but there is one name which we speak 
of almost in a whisper, because we do not like to think or 
speak of it as if it were a common thing. We call it " the 
voice of God/' the invisible Power all around, which also 
is within us — the " Breath" or the " Spirit of God," which 
we cannot see any more than we can see our own breath or 
spirit — and because it is so good we call it "the Holy 
Spirit of God. " And from this i ' Breath or Spirit of God" 
comes all the good not only in ourselves but in other peo- 
ple ; and children cannot learn too early to admire and love 
all that is admirable and lovable in the men, women, and 
children that they see around them. They may, perhaps, 
also be able to learn the great lesson that there are things 
to be admired and loved in people they do not like ; in peo- 
ple that hurt and annoy them, or even in those whom they 
ought to avoid. And if, as sometimes happens, children 
are brought up in other countries where they do not see 
the people always go to the same church, or utter the same 
prayers as they and their parents, they may learn thus early 
a lesson which they never will forget, namely, that our hea- 
venly Father has those who serve Him and do good in many 
different ways, but still in and by the same good Spirit. 

II. — These are the chief things which we ought to learn 
from our catechism as to what the young should believe. 
And now, what must wc teach them as to what they should 



WHAT TO TEACH CHILDREN. 21 

do ? St. John, when he was a very old man — so old that 
he could not walk, and could hardly speak — used to be car- 
ried in the arms of his friends into the midst of the assem- 
bly of Christians, and then he would lift himself up and 
say, " Little children, love one another ;" and again, 
''Little children, love one another;" and again, "Little 
children, love one another." When asked, "Have you 
nothing else to tell us ?" he replied, " I say this over and 
over again, because if you do this there is nothing more 
needed." Now, that is something like what I would say 
to you. What you have to be told to do is very simple. 
It is that you should be kind and loving to one another, for 
then you will be loving towards God, because you will be 
doing that which He most desires. Try not to vex or 
tease your smaller brothers or sisters ; try to help them 
when they are in difficulty ; do not be jealous of them ; do 
not tell stories against them ; above all, do not lead them 
into mischief, because the worst harm you can do to a 
young child is to tempt him to do what is wrong. If he 
once begins you cannot stop him, and many years after- 
wards he will remember with bitter grief and indignation 
that you were the first to lead him astray into evil ways. 
A lie that is told, a deceit that is practised, a bad word that 
is heard, a bad act that is lightly spoken of, often enters 
into the mind of a young child, and remains there all his 
life. There is a proverb which says, t ' Little pitchers have 
t long ears, " and it means that little children often hear more 
than you think they hear, and keep in their memory things 
which you think they must have forgotten. It is the same, 
in other words, as a Latin proverb, which those boys who 
understand Latin will translate for themselves — maxima 
debetur pueris reverentia. The greatest reverence, the great- 
est fear, should restrain us from doing anything by false, 
or vulgar, or foolish words, to spoil the conscience, or the 
taste, or the character of a little boy. You know what you 



22 INTRODUCTORY PAPERS. 

mean by a spoiled picture, or a spoiled book — the colors 
are slurred, the leaves are rumpled. That is what we mean 
by a child whose character is spoiled or stained by the 
foolish indulgence or neglect of those about him. Parents, 
try not to spoil your children. Children, try not to spoil 
one another ; and take care not to be spoiled yourselves. 
That is one of the most important ways of fulfilling St. 
Johns precept both for old and young, "Little children, 
love — do not spoil — one another." And there is another 
part of this precept which children should be taught : it is 
that love and kindness include not only our brothers and 
sisters and relatives, but also poor people who are in 
suffering or want ; and not only these, but also the poor 
dumb creatures that depend upon us. Never be rude to 
any poor man or woman because they are in rags, or be- 
cause they look and talk differently from ourselves. Never 
be cruel to any dog, or cat, or bird. There was once a 
very cruel Roman emperor — cruel to men, women, and 
children — who, when he was a little boy, used to amuse 
himself by tormenting flies. Perhaps if he had been stop- 
ped then he would not have had his heart hardened against 
his fellow men. 

III. — And, now, how are you to be strengthened to be- 
lieve and to do these things ? There are many ways, but 
I will mention only two. By reading good books and by 
learning good prayers. 

(1.) Good books. First of all, the best parts of the 
Bible ; for even in the best of all books, the Bible, there 
are some parts more useful, more easy, more likely to stand 
the trials of time than others. Learn these, teach these, 
and you will then find that the more difficult parts will not 
perplex those who in their early childhood have had a firm 
grasp of those parts of which the truth and beauty belong 
not to the vesture that is folded up and vanisheth away, 
but to the wisdom and grace which endure forever. And 



WHAT TO TEACH CHILDREN. 23 

of other good books, let the stories of the good and great 
men of our own or former times be fixed in our remem- 
brance. How many such stories there are which, as Sir 
Philip Sidney said ■ of Chevy Chase, stir our souls and 
spirits as with a trumpet ! How many are there which will 
make our blood boil against the evil-doer, or our hearts 
beat with admiration for generous and noble deeds ! There 
was a famous French soldier of bygone days whose name 
you will see written in this Abbey on the gravestone of Sir 
James Outram, because in many ways he was like Bayard. 
Bayard was a small boy, only thirteen, when he went into 
his first service, and his mother told him to remember three 
things. " First, to fear and love God ; secondly, to have 
gentle and courteous manners to those above him ; and, 
thirdly, to be generous and charitable, without pride or 
haughtiness, to those beneath him ;" and these three things 
he never forgot — which helped to make him the soldier 
"without fear, and without reproach." These are the 
stories which are part of the heritage of all the families of 
the earth, and ought to be cherished from the first to the 
last. 

(2.) And what must we teach, what must be learnt about 
prayer ? Let no parent forget, let no child forget, to say 
a prayer, however short, at morning and at evening. It 
will help to make you better all the day. The Lord's 
Prayer will never fail you. The child will be able to 
understand it, the old man will find it expressing all that 
he wants. And there is also that form of prayer which is 
expressed in hymns. There are hymns which can be re- 
membered better than anything else, and which in restless 
sleepless nights of pain and suffering will come back to our 
minds, many many years after they were learnt in child- 
hood. Amongst these let me recommend the Morning and 
Evening Hymns, written by one of the best of Englishmen, 
Bishop Ken — the first beginning, "Awake, my soul, and 



24 INTRODUCTORY PAPERS. 

with the sun," and the other, " Glory to Thee, my God, 
this night." Not long ago I was visiting an aged and 
famous statesman, and he repeated to me, word by word, 
"The Evening Hymn," as he had learnt it, he told me, 
from his nurse ninety years before. So may it be with 
you, my dear children, not only with hymns, but with the 
other good things which you may learn now, and perhaps 
when you are like that old, very old man, grown gray in 
the service of his country, and full of years and honors, 
you may remember that when you were a child you heard 
something which you have not forgotten on the festival of 
St. John, on the eve of Innocents' Day, in Westminster 
Abbey. 



THE CHILDREN'S PORTION IN THE SABBATH 

SERVICE.* 

By Rev. ALEXANDER MACLEOD, of Birkenhead, Eng. 

What I wish to advocate is the introduction of suitable 
words for children in the regular ministration of the pul- 
pit. At least one out of every three who come to our 
churches is a child under twelve. In every congregation 
of worshipers, therefore, there is a congregation of child- 
ren. Sunday brings to those young hearts a certain stir 
of expectation. Everything is different from other days ; 
the very preparations announce that it is to some great 
festival the family are going. The thoughts of the child- 
ren are set toward a great occasion. Sunday after Sunday 
they go up to it with expectation in their hearts ; and 
Sunday after Sunday, in the majority of our churches, 
that expectation is not recognized ; their presence is not 
felt. They are not once addressed. The psalms and 
hymns express experiences at which they have not arrived. 

* Paper read at the Pan-Presbyterian Council in Philadelphia, 1880. 



CHILDREN S PART IN PUBLIC WORSHIP. 25 

The sermon is in language they do not understand. At 
length the great occasion has come to an end ; the people 
are faring back to their homes ; but not one word has 
been spoken to the children, who, nevertheless, as bap- 
tized persons, are members of the flock, and concerning 
whom the Lord left this injunction : " Feed my lambs." 

Who can think of the immense number of children 
scattered over our Presbyterian churches, who come up to 
the public service Sunday after Sunday with eager hope of 
finding some interest for their young souls, with that hope 
growing smaller and smaller as the brief years of childhood 
run out, until at last the pathetic habit is formed of expect- 
ing nothing — who can think of this and not sympathize 
with the desire to provide for them, also, a portion in the 
service, which they shall look forward to, and by which 
their spiritual lives shall be fed ? 

The Presbyterian Church has never known a time when 
the religious training of her children has not been a 
subject of the deepest interest to her. Her Sunday- 
schools are an honest, most earnest endeavor to supply a 
portion of that training ; but they cannot adequately sup- 
ply all that is desired. 

Perhaps the greatest monument of the Presbyterian 
Church's interest in the religious training of children is its 
Catechisms. I, personally, have the best of reasons for 
thinking well of one of these. I was brought up, theo- 
logically speaking, on the Westminster Assembly's Shorter 
Catechism. It is a book I greatly honor. Nothing I am 
about to say implies the suggestion that it should be laid 
aside ; but I am bound to report the good I got out of it 
was not till the years of my childhood were past. As a 
child I did not understand it. I do not think many of my 
generation did. It was a task book. It was a treasury of 
doctrinal statements set in terms too abstract and theolog- 
ical for children to take in ; statements, none the less, 



26 INTRODUCTORY PAPERS. 

good to be lodged in the memory — good as forms of 
thought for the future — but beyond the present compre- 
hension of all except a specially gifted few among such 
children as I have known. 

In childhood it is the imagination that is most fully de- 
veloped and most eager for food. At every turn those 
young eyes open upon new vistas and reaches of wonder- 
land. Everything presents itself to them in the resem- 
blance of something else. The stars are lamps ; the rain- 
bow, ladders ; the clouds, islands in a sea of blue. Now 
is the time, also, when the world they see seems to veil 
another unseen ; when woods are peopled with strange 
forms of life, and mountains have secret doors opening 
into hid kingdoms of diamonds and gold ; when the shad- 
ows on the wall, and the sighing of trees and the prattle 
of brooks are living things. It is the time, especially, 
when the past lies behind the child like a golden age — 
and stories of that past are of all things the most wel- 
come to the soul. Thought, feeling, emotion — everything 
is touched with imaginative receptiveness. If at this 
time, therefore, the heart is to be reached, it must be 
through the gates of imagination. 

My suggestion is that we should recognize and meet this 
condition of mind ; that we should follow where nature 
beckons ; that we should set ourselves to meet the suscep- 
tibility and yearning of childhood by truth set in imagina- 
tive forms ; using the word in a large, elastic sense, let me 
say by stories — sermon stories — which the child's own 
pastor shall tell. 

I do not undertake to say what is the best arrangement 
for bringing in the stories. The arrangement that would 
suit one congregation may be unsuitable for another. But 
I offer the following as suggestions which at least are prac- 
tical : 

In churches where two lessons are read in the morning 



CHILDREN S PART IN PUBLIC WORSHIP. 2 { 

service, the second might be set apart for the children — ■ 
might itself, in fact, in the very words of the Bible story, 
be the children's portion. Just there every child might be 
apprised that the word read and the brief remarks made in 
connection with them were for them. 

In churches where instrumental music is used, the time 
consumed in playing over the tunes and in executing little 
snatches of cadence between the singing of verses, if gath- 
ered together, would probably give all the time that would 
be required. 

In churches where quartette and duet singing is allowed, 
the proper place would be there. Let the quartette sing- 
ers fall back into the choir. Let the children's service 
occupy their place. 

In churches where there are neither two lessons, nor an 
organ, nor quartette singing, I suppose I am not far from 
the fact in assuming that the sermon is at least three-quar- 
ters of an hour in length. Let the minister cut it down to 
thirty minutes. He will thereby have done two good 
things : he will have greatly improved the working quality 
of his sermon, and he will have found a good quarter of 
an hour for his word to the children. 

The practical aim we have in the Christian upbringing 
of our young people will determine the kind of stories we 
should tell. Our purpose is not entertainment, but in- 
struction. We are set to train up the children in gospel 
principles, and to lives which shall be the embodiment of 
the gospel. Not every story, therefore, will suit for this 
work : not stories for stories' sake. Only stories which 
have more or less the formative principles of the gospel in 
them ; stories which have truth as truth is found in the 
parables, or truth of actual event, as it is found in biog- 
raphy or history. Stories which have Christian truth 
neither in the one form nor the other, which are mere 



28 INTRODUCTORY PAPERS. 

fiction, are inevitably detected by children, and, in nine 
cases out of ten, discarded just because they are not true. 
The stories which a minister of the gospel will tell will be 
stories of life rather than death. Morbid stories, which 
give undue prominence to the details of the death-bed, he 
will soon come to feel can only work evil in young minds. 
The grand purpose of the gospel is life, not death ; purer 
life, higher life, holier life. We are sent into the world 
to live, and every word spoken by the Christian minister 
should be promotive of this purpose. This does not re- 
quire that there shall never be reference to death. It is the 
gospel of immortality we have to preach. The wonder of 
divine grace has its triumphs in the death-bed as well as in 
active life. But in the main it is life, not death, we have 
to illustrate and commend. Our Sunday stories, there- 
fore, should be brimful of life, wholesome with the whole- 
someness of life, and their natural influence should be 
along the lines which lead to manly and womanly worth, 
and to honesty, purity, temperance, and truth in daily 
life. They should be such stories as go to make boys 
brave and honorable, and girls tender-hearted and pitiful 
with the pity and tenderness of God, 

I need hardly say that the stories should be moral. 
They should not be — and in the hand of the gospel minis- 
ter they cannot be — such as in the name of religion dis- 
credit morality. 

Just as bad are stories which commend an impossible 
morality. We are set to train Christ's little ones to lives 
passed under conditions which have been appointed by the 
tcnderest consideration for their weakness. They are to 
do what they can — no more. They are not called to an- 
gelic conditions, but to human. They are not to be ex- 
horted to a morality too high for them, or so severe as to 
give them a distaste for the Gospel which has called them 
to it. We shall therefore exclude stories which set up 



children's part in public worship. 29 

impossible standards, or which invite them to sacrifices 
they are as yet simply not old enough to understand. 

But, above all, the stories ought to have in the heart of 
them some fair vision of God ; which is the same as say- 
ing they ought to be Gospel stories. Some aspect of the 
divine face, or some reflection of the divine character, or 
something which should suggest these, should be in them 
all. It is the Gospel we are set to preach to the grown-up 
people ; it is the same Gospel we should preach by our 
sermon-stories to the children. 

I shall never forget a little speech made once to a com- 
pany of Sunday-school teachers, of whom I was one, by 
an old Secession Elder in Glasgow. It was at the time 
when Kitto's Illustrated Bible was first brought out. Peo- 
j)le imagined that they were getting something very grand 
when they were getting pictures of the Holy Land, and 
wood-cuts of palm-trees, and beasts of burden, and dress- 
es, and buildings. But this old Elder, who had looked 
into the heart of the Bible more deeply than we young 
teachers, said: "It maybe useful and very entertaining 
to tell your classes of the height and girth of the cedars 
of Lebanon, and the dimensions of the Temple of Solo- 
mon, and such things ; but in my experience there is noth- 
ing will interest a child so much, or bear repetition so 
many times, or do so much good, as the story of the Cross 
of Christ." 

And I entirely assent to that statement. The story it- 
self as it lies in the Bible, or illustrations of it or of little 
bits of it, as we have supplied sometimes in the loving and 
self-denying conduct of mothers and mother-hearted souls, 
are the stories which most easily fascinate a child, which 
make the deepest impression, and which are the happiest 
opening for children into the knowledge of the love of God. 

But now comes the natural inquiry : Where are such 
stories to be found ? Now see the wisdom and provident 



30 INTRODUCTORY PAPERS. 

goodness of God. Great portions of the Book we are set 
to expound come to us in the form of stories. An end- 
less supply is there, and a boundless variety, and all of it 
touched with both imagination and ethical force. In Gen- 
esis and Exodus alone are stories which will last for a 
whole year. We have only to name the heroes of Bible 
history to recall the rich materials prepared for our use : 
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samson, 
Samuel, David. "We have only to think of the events of 
which the Bible is the record, to see the same thing : the 
expulsion from Eden, the deluge, the ten plagues, the 
crossing of the Red Sea, the life in the wilderness. 

What child could not feel the awful side of the divine 
majesty in the story of Belshazzar's feast ? or the weird 
doom on filial disloyalty in the death of Absalom ? or the 
pathos of human life in the anguish which sings in the 
137th Psalm — "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a 
strange land ?" — or the protective care of God in the pres- 
ervation of Daniel in the lions' den ? or the wonder and 
miracle of His presence in that story of the form of the 
Son of man who was seen walking with the three children 
in the fire ? 

And see how the life of our Lord has been told. That 
life unfolds in a way that might justify the supposition 
that it was meant to be told to children. At once it ar- 
rests the imagination and engages the heart of a child. 
The manger in the stable, the star, the wise men, the visit 
to the Temple, the preaching at Xazareth, the baptism by 
John, the temptation — we have in these events an inter- 
est which never loses its fascination for children. And, as 
if these were not enough, we have line upon line of other 
and as interesting materials in that life. There is the rich 
fullness of incident and circumstance in the history of the 
public ministry. The parables are just stories of the kind, 
and for the kind of minds I am bringing before you. 



children's part in public worship. 31 

The miracles are stories, xlnd, last of all, there is the 
endlessly interesting story of the sufferings at the end. 

And we are not confined to the Bible. The history of 
God's dealings with His people, and of their contendings 
for His kingdom and truth, is another Bible outside of the 
Bible we know. Why should our children not be in- 
structed on the Lord's day in the glorious memories of the 
Keformation \ Why should we ever suffer to be forgotten 
the heroic faith under persecution which in every country 
those who followed the Reformation sustained ? Is it 
nothing to have stories to tell like those of the Waldensian 
valleys, of the Puritan Pilgrims, of the Scottish Cove- 
nanters ? Or is it wise to know all we do of the conquests 
of the Gospel among the heathen, and let our children 
grow up in ignorance of them ? 

God has set the teacher of the Word in a world teem- 
ing with illustrative stories. Did he intend the poets to 
sing to idle worldlings only ? Why should the Christian 
ballad, for example, of the venerable Whittier, not be used 
in the spiritual training of the young ? Why should the 
preachers not make incursions into the field of general lit- 
erature ? Shakespeare himself will minister to the children 
if we let him. ' The best sermon on the necessity of clean 
hands and a pure heart, is just to tell his story of Macbeth. 
And, if all other books should fail, there remains the glo- 
rious Dream of the Bedford prisoner. This will supply 
many a Sunday story, and be good for the highest ends in 
the Christian training of the young. 

Nor are we confined to books. Life is surging all 
around us, and sending us whole tides of interesting inci- 
dent through the newspapers every morning. Never a 
week, if we care to gather them, but illustrations of Bible 
lessons may be found in that supply alone. 

I will close by pointing out the good we might expect if 
this suggestion were adopted. 



32 INTRODUCTORY TAPERS. 

There would be good to the minister. Mr. Phillips 
Brooks, in his Yale lectures, expresses the fear that 
preaching to children may impair the power of preaching 
to adults. If that fresh and genial spirit has himself 
preached to children, as I have no doubt he has done, it 
certainly has not impaired his power to speak to the adults. 
It did not impair the power of Norman Macleod, nor of 
William Arnot. It will not impair the power in any true- 
hearted speaker for God, but it will quicken his spirit ; it 
will simplify his presentation of the Gospel ; it will be like 
a bath in young-heartedness. Having set the child in the 
midst, he will turn round, like the Master, to the rest of 
the flock, and speak to them with the tenderness and sim- 
plicity of heart which spiritual contact with childhood 
never fails to impart. 

It will be a blessmg to the adult portion of the congrega- 
tion. People never cease to be affected by the memories 
of their childhood. That song murmurs behind us along 
all the paths of life. We are never far from the subtle 
tendrils that hold us, or are ready to lay hold of us and 
bring us back to the fair vision of the early years. Touch 
the hearts of children in your flocks, and you have there- 
by touched the hearts of the parents. "When the shep- 
herd wishes the dam to follow him, he carries the lamb on 
his shoulder. It is true in the narrower sphere of the con- 
gregation as in the world-wide sphere of the race, that a 
little child shall lead. And sometimes, speaking to the 
children, or evoking their praise, you touch chords in the 
parental heart which nothing else can touch. It is not 
alone in Longfellow's song that fathers rejoice to hear the 
voice of their daughters in the praise. To real fathers be- 
fore you that voice will sound like the dear mother's in 
Paradise ; and hard, rough hands in real life will 

" Wipe the tears out of their eyes." 



children's part in public worship. 33 

We were talking the other day, in the Council, about 
the enrichment of Presbyterian worship. What we are in 
search of awaits us here. And, coming this way, it will 
come to us, not from without, but from within. Recog- 
nize the presence and the claims of the children, and, 
when the minister's brief word to them is ended, give 
voice to their songs ; and by that one bound, by that one 
addition, Presbyterian worship shall have ascended to a 
height and richness which an imitated liturgic sendee could 
never reach. 

But, chiefly, it will be good for the children. The little 
sermon or story to the children will make the Sabbath a 
delight to them. It will draw their young hearts into the 
same acts of worship with their parents. It will be the 
sowing of their minds with seeds of thought. We can 
never tell the immense results in after life to which the 
simplest-looking event in childhood will lead up. A little 
boy at Tarsus once heard the story of Gideon and the 
earthen pitchers ; and in his old age he lifted up that story 
into eternal forms of still fertile thought, in the great ut- 
terance where the memory of Gideon's lights and pitchers 
is made to illustrate both the light which God in the Gos- 
pel commanded to shine out of darkness, and the power 
and excellency which he has stored up in preachers who in 
themselves are but earthen vessels. 

Be sure we have not come yet to the last visions of life, 
in the stories of the Bible. There are wells of truth, 
ideals of practice, solutions of problems, still untouched in 
those tales of the divine past. Drop them, minister of 
the Gospel, one by one as you have opportunity, into the 
soil of young hearts. You will tell some day, for exam- 
ple, the story of the runaway slave whom Paul found in 
the slums of Rome and sent back to Philemon, his mas- 
ter, and — who knows ? — out of that soil, prepared by God, 
in after years shall spring up the very word we are waiting 



34 



INTRODUCTORY PAPERS. 



for, the very solution of the problem Ave had before us the 
other day, of the relation between employer and employed. 

And in other ways past naming good shall spring forth. 
The life of the pulpit shall flow like a river through the 
lives of the children ; and the boys and girls who are to 
be the fathers and mothers of the years to come, shall rise 
up to call us blessed. 

I am not advocating an untried proposal. Many con- 
gregations in England and Scotland have had happy expe- 
rience of it for years. "Would that it might become 
an ordinance in every Presbyterian Church in the world. 
At every morning service, for one ten minutes out of the 
ninety, let the minister be in direct contact with the souls 
of the children. Let never a day pass in which he shall 
not give wings to a story of God's love or Christian life. 
It will go up and down and in and out, throughout the 
week which follows, doing good work for God. 

Doing thus we shall whet and keep Avhole the appetite 
of the children for the services of the sanctuary. Doing 
thus we shall open the windows of heaven and give them 
also glimpses of the vision of God. And in that golden 
space in those consecrated minutes we shall bring back for 
the children — and it may be for their parents as well — 
the days when Jesus spoke to His disciples in parables, 
and taught those children of His love as they were able to 
receive His words. 



SERMOXETTES. 
By Rev. E. CORWIN, D. D., Racine, Wis. 

What can be done to reach and retain the children ; 
bringing them to Christ and training them up in Christ ? 
This is one of the most practical of problems with every 
faithful pastor. To make the Sabbath-school a Bible 
school for the whole church, adults as well as the young, 



SERMONETTES. 35 

is of great advantage. It works well in various ways, if 
the parents are ready to second the efforts of the pastor 
and superintendent in this direction. Whatever may be 
the defects of the Sabbath- school system, they are not 
remedied by church or pastor getting out of sympathy 
with it, and acting as though they thought the case hope- 
less and the system worthless. Till some wise critic shall 
devise a better system, we shall continue to use the Sab- 
bath-school as a very important department of church 
work, and as the most available and efficient agency for in- 
structing the. young in a knowledge of the Word. 

It is useless to tell us that Sabbath-schools have to a 
great extent supplanted religious instruction in the family. 
The households now neglecting Bible study and family re- 
ligion will not be any more likely to take up the neglected 
duty if we turn the children adrift from the Sabbath- 
schools, and cease as churches to provide for their religious 
instruction. 

To object that the Sabbath-school is too often made a 
substitute for the church service — as doubtless it too often 
is — avails nothing, if we have no practical remedy to sug- 
gest. The problem is not solved by closing these schools 
and saying to the children, Come to the regular services of 
the sanctuary, if you wish to receive religious instruction. 
While continuing to use the Sabbath-school as an instru- 
mentality wonderfully blessed of God — the nursery from 
which the tender plants are transferred to become standard 
fruit-bearing trees in the garden of the Lord — let pastor 
and people use the school itself as the place in which to 
impress the importance of church-going habits upon every 
child. WTiile the pastor can do much to encourage and 
help the superintendent and teachers by his presence at 
every session of the school, manifesting the deepest inter- 
est in that department of church work, the superintendent 
and teachers may do much to persuade the children that 



36 INTRODUCTORY PAPERS. 

the Sabbath-school is not the children's church, nor in any 
wise a substitute for the church service. 

Good results have in some cases been secured by keep- 
ing a credit and debit account with each scholar, not only 
with respect to attendance upon the Sabbath-school, but 
upon the prayer-meetings and the public Sabbath services 
as well. To superadd to this pecuniary rewards for attend- 
ance is by some highly approved, but by others is regarded 
as of doubtful expediency, since it presents an unworthy 
motive to the mind of the child, and is not training him 
as a matter of principle and preference to attend the sanct- 
uary. When the lower motive is withdrawn the habit is 
liable to fall with it, if the higher motives are wanting. 

Many pastors are finding the best practical solution of 
the problem how to reach and retain the children, and how 
to establish in them church-going habits, by the introduc- 
tion of the sermonette. Introduced just before the hymn, 
immediately preceding the regular sermon, it relieves and 
lights up the otherwise too staid and stately service, and 
acts as an appetizer, so that the people settle down with a 
keener relish and all the closer attention to the weightier 
discourse and the more compacted argument. 

If care be taken to have all the exercises sharp and short, 
the sermonette of from five to ten minutes does not add 
very much, if any, to the ordinary length of the morning 
service. If the organist and chorister are in full sympathy 
with the pastor, so that the least possible time is wasted in 
the mere incidentals — such as tedious organ voluntaries and 
interludes, the needless reading of verses of the hymn 
which are to be omitted in singing, and the giving of ir- 
relevant and often impertinent notices — the entire exercises 
can be with dignity and propriety compressed within an 
hour and a quarter. 

With thorough preparation, earnestness and freedom in 
delivery, copious illustration without falling into " anec- 



SERMONETTES. 37 

dotage," it will be found that the adults are quite as much 
interested in and profited by this as by any part of the 
service, while the children will need little persuasion to at- 
tend church, if it is understood that the pastor never fails 
to have a little sermon for them. This method is found to 
be far better than an occasional discourse for the children, 
for that brings them to the house of God only occasionally. 
The pastor who fails to feed the lambs, fails to fulfill a 
very important part of his commission from the Great Shep- 
herd, and has little occasion to complain that the lambs 
are not eager to come for the fodder that is intended and 
adapted only for the sheep. On this subject we offer the 
following suggestions : 

1. Carefully avoid baby talk. 

2. Use few if any endearing pnrases, such as "dear 
children." 

3. It is important to avoid excess of story telling. 

4. Do not let the illustrations drown the theme. The 
aim is to make the subject vivid, and not merely draw at- 
tention to the ingenuity of the illustration. 

5. It is important to preach a sermon for the young peo- 
ple every Sunday, that the children may be encouraged to 
come regularly. 

6. It is well to follow up this work by inviting one or 
two classes at a time to a Monday evening meeting with the 
pastor. Thus, during the year all of the scholars will have 
been invited. One hundred and eighty dollars invested in 
a microscope for these Monday evenings, will be found to 
be a good investment. 

V. If, together with the foregoing suggestions, the pas- 
tor will visit the home of each child in the congregation at 
least once a year,. he will find his own heart kept young, 
and he will be able to draw the children into the church. 



SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS, ABOUT 
JESUS. 

[the scripture readings and sermons being arranged 
in the order of the events,] 



Why the stories of Jesus were written— Luke 1. 1-4. Where Jesus 
was before He came to this world — John 1. 1-5, 9-14, 16-18. 
John the Baptizer sent to witness of Jesus — John ]. 6, 8, 15. 
His parents— Luke 1. 1-25. 



BIRTH OF JOHX THE BAPTIST FORETOLD.* 

By Bishop ARTHUR CLEVELAND COXE. 

He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and 
the heart of the children to their fathers. — Malachi 4. 6 ; 
Luke 1. 17. 

Angels are all about us night and day, and we might 
see them, no doubt, if our eyes were not very imperfect. 
There are also many sounds in nature that we never hear, 
because our ears do not catch sounds that are very high or 
very low. So we are told by those who study such things. 
But God can at any time " open our ears," or our eyes, to 
hear and see what ordinarily we do not perceive : and per- 
haps I shall be able to tell you more about this at another 
time. Xow, I only wish to make you observe a pretty 
thing about the text. It was written four hundred years 

* From The Sunday-school Times. 



40 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

before our Saviour's birth, by the holy prophet Malachi. 
The times he promised seemed to tarry very long ; but 
once, when a pious priest was ministering in the temple, of 
a sudden his eyes and ears were opened, and he saw an 
angel. The angel spake unto him, and he heard him. 
And now, the pretty thing I wished to point out is that 
this blessed angel knew the Bible, and he took this very 
text for his text, and he preached upon it for the instruc- 
tion of the priest. How striking is the thought that when 
we read the Bible we feed on angels' food ; and when 
clergymen preach they do what angels would gladly do, 
had not God, in His wisdom, preferred men to minister to 
their brethren. 

The angel took this text, written four hundred years be- 
forehand, and he told the priest that it was all about a 
great preacher that would erelong be born to him as a son. 
This son should grow up to be a second Elijah, and should 
be greater than all the other prophets, because he should 
complete their work, by pointing out the Lamb of God so 
long expected, and baptizing Him, to prepare Him for His 
work of redeeming poor sinners on the cross. In a word, 
this promised child was St. John the Baptist, and he was 
to introduce Christ to the w T orld as its Saviour ; and he was 
also to prepare the way of the Lord, by preaching repent- 
ance and making sinners feel their need of a Saviour. 

Now we come to the text, and we learn one way in which 
he was to make many of the Jewish people ready to re- 
ceive the Son of David. Observe, my dear children, how 
much it concerns such as you are : ' ' He shall turn the 
heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the 
children to their fathers." Is it not a thing to think of, 
that preparing the way of the Lord had so much to do with 
the hearts of little children ? 

The people of those days were perhaps no worse than 
those of our own times, when we think how much more has 



BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 41 

been done for us than had been done for them. And if 
some people take no pains with their children now, we may 
well suppose they were more neglectful still in the days of 
cruel King Herod. And what was the consequence ? The 
children of those days grew up to be the wicked men that 
crucified their king — the King of Glory — the well -beloved 
Son of God. They were the most miserable of all men, 
in being given up to do this, the most awful crime of all 
crimes men have ever done. 

That there were any good men at all in such days seems 
to be the wonder. But John the Baptist grew up to do a 
great work in converting the wicked, and teaching them to 
obey the gospel. And it was the children of these con- 
verted people that became the first followers of the blessed 
apostles. Many of them were blessed martyrs ; and many 
of them were missionaries who went to distant lands, and 
taught even our own forefathers, in Britain, to know and 
love the Redeemer. 

Now, how was it done ? You see it was by what we 
now call family religion. Fathers and mothers, too, began 
to love their children's souls as well as their bodies. So 
Timothy was brought up, and he became a great mission- 
ary. We know that good parents catechized their children, 
because this is what St. Luke tells us of Theophilus and his 
education. And children began to love to be taught, as 
they generally do, when loving fathers and mothers take 
such pains to teach them, telling them about the holy 
Jesus, going over all the wonderful stories of the Bible 
with them, and showing that they are probably made beau- 
tiful for the very purpose of interesting children, and 
"making them wise unto salvation." 

See what a happy thing it is to belong to a Christian 
family, in which fathers and mothers are so bound to love 
their children, and take care of them. You have heard, I 
dare say, how heathen children are treated by their 



42 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

parents — often thrown into the streets, or into the rivers, 
and sometimes sacrificed to their horrid idols. There 
never was such a thing as a true family among heathen, 
because neither fathers nor children know how to use their 
hearts in loving one another as they should ; that is, faith- 
fully, and not with mere animal affection, as we see dogs 
and cats nursing their young for a time, and then forget- 
ting them. And even among the Jews, families were not 
ordinarily such as Christian families always may be, and 
always are, when they are truly Christian. 

You know how dear, is the thought of home, when you 
are away from home for a short time. Now, in one word, 
this very thing, a home, is a Christian idea ; and there are 
no true homes where there are no true Christians. 

So the angel came to tell the world about homes ; how 
the time was near which we call the Christian age ; how it 
should be the age of homes and of happy families ; and 
this just so far as fathers and mothers should be true 
Christians, and regulate their love to their children by the 
Holy Scriptures, so as to make their children love them 
dearly in return. 

" He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children," 
said the angel. Bad fathers, who neglect their children, 
generally have bad sons and daughters. I often preach to 
wretched men and women in prisons ; and sometimes I 
have said to them, " I am afraid your fathers and mothers 
never taught you the catechism ; never taught you the 
Lord's Prayer ; never taught you about the Saviour ; and 
never took you by the hand and led you to church with 
them on the Lord's Day. If so, you see the consequences 
of their folly, in your own misery and sinfulness ; and I am 
afraid they, as well as you, deserve to be shut up in prison 
for letting their children grow up without good habits ; but 
even now you can repent, and teach your children to do 
better. " So I have talked to them ; and I have seen them 



BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 43 

weep bitterly as I said such sad words ; and if any of them 
had good fathers and mothers, I have no doubt they wept 
because they knew the fault was all their own. The heart 
of their fathers had been turned to them, but, alas ! they 
had not turned their hearts to their fathers. 

And this is what I come, next, to speak of. Children 
are often so foolish as to have no heart to be instructed ; 
they prefer always to do as they choose, and not to love 
what is good and hate what is evil. If such children grow 
up to become thieves, and even murderers, no wonder. 
You must remember it is not love when a foolish father 
lets his boy eat what will make him ill, or play with knives 
and guns that may hurt him. A good father shows his 
love by teaching his children to avoid what injures them, 
and to prefer what will make them comfortable and happy. 
And just so he teaches them to hate sin, which sooner or 
later makes us miserable ; and to love what is right and 
true, because to do right and speak truth always makes us 
happy in the end. Children's hearts, then, must be so 
turned to their fathers and mothers that they must love to 
obey them. They must be sure that they are too young to 
know what is for their own good, and they must delight to 
let their parents guide them. I have seen children very 
miserable, suffering great pain, and taking very disagree- 
able medicines, because they were disobedient to parents. 
And all this they would have escaped, had they turned 
their hearts to their parents' words and commands : know- 
ing very well that they were forbidden nothing and com- 
manded to do nothing except in love ; their parents only 
wishing to make them happy by making them wise. So 
children may be made wise for two worlds : wise for this 
life, and wise unto salvation. 

Two more things I must say, and that is all just now. 
First, the text has these words added to it — very terrible 
words — " Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." 



44 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Every land is cursed where there are no Christian homes ; 
and our own happy land will be cursed as other lands have 
been where fathers do not love their children wisely, and 
where children despise their parents. Ask your fathers, 
when you go home, to tell you about the beautiful land of 
France, and what dreadful things happened there when the 
people forgot God and ceased to worship Him. There is 
no word in the French language that means just what is 
meant by our dear English word "home." And once I 
heard a very great man, in the city of Paris, telling his own 
countrymen about English and American homes ; and he 
said they would never be a truly happy people till they had 
such homes. And he added that the secret of such homes 
is to have the Bible read and believed and followed in every 
family. This is just what the angel might have told them, 
had he preached to them as he did of old to the priest in 
the temple. 

And the last thing I wish to say is, when you hear a 
sermon always remember the text. And if, when you go 
home, your father or mother should ask you about my ser- 
mon, I trust you will be able to tell them what I have said ; 
but, above all, what the angel said, and what was his text. 
It is, perhaps, a little too long for you to recollect it ; and 
so the next best thing is to remember where the text is 
found. And this time it will be easy, for it is in the very 
last verse of the Old Testament. You can't forget that. 
And I think you will say that it must be a very important 
text, to be found on the last page of the prophets and on 
the first page of the great evangelist St. Luke. Besides, 
you will remember it was first spoken by a great prophet, 
and that four hundred years after it was spoken by the 
angel Gabriel to the priest Zacharias. And it proves this, 
among other things, that God and holy angels and holy men 
have taught us that one of the first things to make ready 
the way of the Lord is to teach Christian love to fathers 



THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 45 

and children, and so to build up the blessed Christian 
home. 



Bible Link — An angel promises Mary that she will be the mother of 
Jesus — Luke 1. 26 56. 



THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 
Rev. W. F. CRAFTS, Brooklyn, N. T. 

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was born and brought up 
in a little village called Nazareth, in the country of Pales- 
tine. The houses were many of them caves and dug- 
outs in the sides of the hills, and others were built 
like common stone walls of rough rocks, with mud for 
mortar, and dirt for carpets, with no windows, and only 
one low door, so that the houses looked like very large 
dog-kennels. The people were most of them so ignorant 
and wicked that men in other parts of the country used to 
say, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ?" Mary 
was one of the poorest of these Nazarenes. We know 
this because there was a law in that country that the peo- 
ple who were too poor to bring a lamb to the Temple as an 
offering could bring two pigeons. Mary brought two 
pigeons ; and so we know that she was very poor. 

When I was in Nazareth, they showed me a cave in the 
rock, with three rooms in it, which they said was the 
house where Mary lived. If that is not the one, hers was 
doubtless no better. In the centre of the village there is 
a very old fountain, where the people get their water for 
drinking and washing. The women in that country do all 
"the carrying of water. We saw a great many of them, 
young and old, coming to the fountain with jars as big as 
water-buckets, Avhich they filled with water and carried 



40 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

back on their Leads to their homes. This is called the 
Virgin's Fountain, because many years ago, just in this 
way, the Virgin Mary used to come with the other bare- 
footed girls to carry home water for the family. Some of 
these we saw had quite pretty faces, which made us think 
how Mary might have looked ; but there were no faces so 
beautiful and thoughtful as some of your mothers' and sis- 
ters' in this country, where we put knowledge into the 
heads of girls, instead of putting jars of water on them. 

When Mary grew up to be a young woman, she was en- 
gaged to be married to a young carpenter named Joseph, 
who came to Nazareth from Bethlehem. Strangely 
enough, there is only one Jew in Nazareth to-day, and his 
name is Joseph, and he is a carpenter. 

This Joseph, who was engaged to be married to Mary, 
was not an old man, as you often see him represented in 
pictures that are made by people who worship Mary in- 
stead of God, and who want to make people think that 
Joseph was not afterward Mary's husband, but some old 
uncle. Before Joseph and Mary were married, however, 
an angel came to the cave or cot where Mary lived, and 
told her wonderful news — that she was to have the blessing 
that all Jewish women longed for, to be the mother of the 
promised Messiah, the mother of Jesus. She would be 
his mother, and he would have no human father. God 
would be his father, and he would be as mighty as God in 
the world. Some time after that, she had her donkey sad- 
dled, and rode bravely two or three days through the 
country to a little village in the hills of Judea, where her 
Cousin Elizabeth lived, to tell her the wonderful tidings. 
They did not have telegraph wires and mails to send their 
messages in those times. When she had told the news to 
her cousin, God made a wonderful song to come from her 
lips, just as a fountain bubbles up on the side of a hill. 

Some time after that, she went with Joseph to visit his 



THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 47 

old home at Bethlehem, where he had to go to pay his 
tax. But there were so many people there from the coun- 
try to pay their taxes, that there was no room for Joseph 
and Mary in the hotel ; and so they had to find shelter in 
the stable, which was a cave. During the night Jesus was 
born, and Mary laid him in a little stone trough or man- 
ger, where the hay was kept for one of the cattle. Mary 
saw a beautiful star flash out in the sky, to show people 
far away that Jesus was born, and where He could be 
found. She heard the shepherds, when they came from the 
hills a little way off, tell about the wonderful chorus of 
angels that had told them that the Saviour, Christ the 
Lord, was born in Bethlehem. A few days afterward, she 
saw the wise men from far, far away, coming to see the 
wonderful Child, and making gifts to him of beautiful 
caskets of gold and frankincense and myrrh ; and she 
knew by all these signs and the promise of the angel, that 
Jesus was indeed the Son of God, the Saviour for the 
world. 

I think the reason Jesus was born of a poor woman of 
wicked Nazareth was to show that he could save the most 
wicked people, and that he loved the poor as well as the 
rich. The reason why he came as a little babe in Bethle- 
hem, I think, was to show that he was the Saviour of 
children as well as the older people, and even of the poor- 
est children. 

When Mary's babe was eight days old she carried him 
to the Temple to be circumcised and named Jesus, just as 
babes in these days are christened and named in the 
church. After this, to escape from Herod the king, who 
was trying to kill Jesus, Mary took him down into Egypt. 
After Herod died, they came back and lived at Nazareth. 
After Jesus was born, Joseph had become the husband of 
Mary, and they had other children in Nazareth. 

When Jesus was twelve years old, his mother took him 



48 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

to the beautiful Temple at Jerusalem. When Jesus grew 
to be a man and began to teach and heal the people, she 
was with him in Cana, when he did his first miracle. 
When he was crucified, 

Mary stood the cross beside. 

When the Holy Spirit came down upon the disciples at 
Pentecost, Mary was there with the rest. 

Some people, who wickedly or ignorantly worship Mary 
instead of God or the Saviour, tell a great many other 
stories about her, that are not true. I have told you in 
this five minutes all the true stories there are about Jesus* 
mother except one, and that is this : One day, when Jesus 
had a great multitude around him, and he was making 
all the sick people well in a minute, by speaking a word or 
touching them, and forgiving those who were sorry for 
their sins, and teaching them all how to be good, some 
one said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are 
waiting just outside the crowd, and want to say something 
to you." Then Jesus said to the people, before going to 
see what his mother and his brothers wanted, ' ' Whoso- 
ever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, 
the same is my brother and sister and mother." That 
means, if any one obeys the commands of God, to love 
Him with all the heart and to give up everything that is 
sinful, and to trust in Jesus as his precious Saviour, and 
to try to be more like him every day, — if thus any one 
does the will of God, Jesus loves him just as much as his 
brother or his sister or his mother. Jesus loved John, 
who leaned upon his bosom and so often walked with him, 
just as much as he loved the brothers that played with 
him in childhood. And he loves every man or boy who 
tries to be a Christian, just as much as he loved his 
brothers and his disciples. The Saviour loves your moth- 
er, if she is a Christian, just as much as he loved his own 



THE HERALD OF JESUS. 49 

mother. Every girl may have as warm a place in the love 
of the Saviour as Mary did. In all the great picture galleries 
of the world we see more pictures of Mary, the mother of 
Jesus, than of any body else ; but let us remember that in 
heaven God gives the pictures of all who love Him as high 
a place as that of Mary the Blessed. All faithful mothers 
are pictured as true Madonnas in the gallery of heaven. 
Whosoever shall do the will of the Father which is in 
heaven, the same is the brother and sister and mother of 
Jesus. 



Bible Lestk— The birth of .John the Baptizer— Luke 1. 57-80. 



JOHN THE HEKALD OF JESUS. 

By Eev. W. F. CKAFTS. 

Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the highest : for 
thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to prepare his 
wags. — Luke 1. 76. 

The streets of the cities in Bible lands are very narrow — 
like our alleys, with no sidewalks — so that people who are 
on foot walk along anywhere in the street ; and so in some 
of the cities, such as Cairo in Egypt, when a carriage is 
driven through the city, the owner sends one of his ser- 
vants, who is called a herald, a few rods ahead of the car- 
riage, running to tell the people to get out of the way. 
This servant is generally a young man about seventeen 
years of age, who wears a red cap with a tassel containing 
a pound of blue silk, which looks very beautiful tossing in 
the air as he runs ; and a beautiful embroidered jacket, 
and around his waist a silk girdle or sash, and a white 
robe which reaches to his knees. As he runs, he carries a 
little wand or stick in his hand, nearly as long as himself. • 



50 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

The red cap and the wand show the people what he is. 
Whenever they sec such a person running, they know that 
a carriage is coming. He cries, as he runs, " Prepare the 
way for my lord," and the people step aside and make way 
for his master's carriage. The prophet Isaiah, when he 
told the people what God had told him — that Jesus was 
coming to be a king over the hearts of all who would love 
and obey him — told them, also, that before this King 
should go forth to his work in the world, a man would go 
before him as a herald, and prepare the people's hearts to 
receive him, by telling them about his goodness and his 
love and his majesty. 

When John the Baptizer was born, his father Zacha- 
rias knew that his child was the person that Isaiah had 
said would come to prepare the way for the Saviour, and 
so he said, "Thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of 
the Highest : for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, 
to prepare his ways." When John grew up to be a man, 
he went out into the fields and hills and got great crowds 
of people to come and hear him preach, and told them 
that Jesus would soon be among them to be their king and 
Saviour. When the people asked John what he was do- 
ing, he said he was the herald that Isaiah had foretold — 
1 ' A voice crying in the wilderness, ' Prepare ye the way 
of the Lord.' " It was a very lowly and beautiful way of 
describing his work, to call himself only a herald, running 
before Jesus, to have the people get ready for his coining, 
not by getting out of the way, but by giving their hearts 
to him in love and obedience. John preached to the peo- 
ple, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 
" Repent " means to turn away from all sin and wrong. 
And the "kingdom of heaven" is the name for the hearts 
that love and obey the Saviour, that take him as a king. 

Now our little text reminds us that every child may be 
a little Prophet of the Highest — that is, of Jesus — to go 



THE HERALD OF JESUS. 51 

before his face and prepare his ways. A little child once 
said, l ' I wish I had lived when Jesus was on earth. I 
would have run everywhere doing his errands." Jesus is 
alive to-day in heaven and on earth, around us like the 
light, though we cannot see him, and we can help him 
by running on his errands. He tells us what to do in the 
Bible. Like John, the herald of old, we can prepare the 
way for Jesus by our words and by our prayers. 

One way to prepare the hearts of people for Jesus to 
come in is by bringing all the people we can to the Sun- 
day-school. The superintendent of a Sunday-school said 
to his scholars one day : "Children, I want each of you 
to bring a new scholar to the school with you next Sun- 
day." " I can't get any new scholars," said several of the 
children to themselves. " I'll try what I can do," was the 
whispered response of a few others. One of these went 
home to his father, and said, ' ' Father, will you go to the 
Sunday-school with me?" "I can't read, my son," re- 
plied the father, with a look of shame. "Our teachers 
will teach you, dear father," answered the boy, with re- 
spect and feeling in his tones. "Well, I'll go," said the 
father. He went, learned to read, sought and found the 
Saviour, and at length became a colporteur. Years passed 
on, and that man established hundreds of Sunday-schools, 
into which thirty-five thousand children were gathered ! 

We can prepare the way for the Saviour also by our 
prayers. There was a young man named Ames, who, 
with other thoughtless young men, was walking up and 
down a grove where people were holding a camp-meeting. 
There was a prayer-meeting around the preaching stand, 
and among those kneeling the young man saw a mother, 
and by her side a little daughter, who knelt with closed 
eyes and hands clasped, and prayed, "O Lord, bless my 
dear mother !" Those six short words entered the heart 
of the young man of whom I am speaking. Tears sprang 



52 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

to his eyes, and he was not satisfied until he had prayed 
for himself, "0 Lord, bless me !" That young man be- 
came Bishop Ames, of the Methodist Church, by whom a 
great many people were brought to the Saviour. 

There was another little praying child whose father was 
a drunkard. All the beautiful things about the home 
were sold one after another to pay for liquor. Every body 
was unhappy, with poor clothes and not enough food, and, 
worse than all, the father often abused the mother and 
children. One night, when the father had come in feeling 
morose and sullen because he had ruined his beautiful 
home, his little girl was just about going to bed, and 
was kneeling to pray. She lifted up her tiny hands and 
prayed, ' ' O God ! spare, oh spare, my dear father !" 
The man understood that his child was praying that he 
might be saved from drunkenness, and he said earnestly, 
"Amen!" He threw his arms lovingly around his wife, 
and, with tears of sorrow for his sins falling down his 
cheeks, he said, as he turned to the little girl, ' ' My child, 
you have saved your father from a drunkard's grave. I'll 
sign the pledge." That child had prepared the way of the 
Lord in the heart of her father by prayer, as John pre- 
pared the hearts of some of the Jewish people to receive 
the Saviour. 

Sometimes a child prepares the way for Jesus by a ques- . 
tion. A little girl, sitting with her wicked father, asked 
him if he ever prayed, which made him very angry. She 
told him that the preacher said, ' ' All good people pray ; 
and they who do not pray are not going to heaven." And 
she added, ' ' Papa, which way are you going ?" It flashed 
upon him that he was in the way of death. He became 
repentant, and in a few days was a happy convert. 

There have been hundreds of cases where a child, com- 
ing home from the Sunday-school or the church, and say- 
ing something to father or mother or friend about God, 



THE HERALD OF JESUS. 53 

has set them to thinking, and caused them at last to take 
Jesus to be their Saviour and king ; and I could tell you 
of little tracts, costing only a penny, bought with the 
money which a child has put into the contribution box, 
that have been the means of making many, many people 
love the Saviour. 

There is one other thing about John that we ought to 
remember. He said he was not worthy to loose Christ's 
shoe-latchet — that is, unworthy to untie his shoe-strings. 
In Bible countries, men sit on the floor, with their feet un- 
der them, and so they have to take their shoes off when- 
ever they go into a house ; and the custom in these lands 
is to take the shoes off on coming into church also, just as 
we take off our hats ; and so a man has to take off his 
shoes a great many times during the day ; and rich men 
have one servant — the lowest of all — whose work is to take 
off the shoes of their masters. John said he was not 
worthy to be the lowest servant of the pure and heavenly 
Christ ; but in another place he called himself the special 
friend of Jesus. So we are to remember, as we prepare 
the way of the Lord, that, while we are not worthy to be 
even his servants, his love allows us to be his friends ; 
and those who are faithful heralds, preparing the way for 
Jesus, on the earth, he says in heaven shall sit on his 
throne. 

Let us ask ourselves to-day if there are not some per- 
sons in our homes or among our friends who are not 
Christians, whom we may persuade to receive the Saviour 
by praying for them, or by talking with them about the 
wondrous love of God. We must be sure to prepare our 
own hearts first, by giving up everything that is sinful, by 
loving Jesus as our friend, by taking him as our precious 
Saviour, and by striving to be more like him every day. 



54 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



FORTUXE-TELLIXG, OR THE BIRTH OF JOHN 
THE BAPTIZER.* 

By Rev. W. W. NEWTON, Boston, Mass. 

What manner of child shall this be? — Luke 1. 66. 

These words were spoken by the happy friends of Zacha- 
rias and Elizabeth when they brought their little infant 
John to dedicate him to the service of God. Zacharias, 
the father, had been dumb ever since the day when the 
angel Gabriel told him that he would have a son, because 
he did not believe him. 

At last the promise which the angel brought from heaven 
was fulfilled ; the happy group of mother and kind-hearted 
aunts and friends, went through the service of dedicating 
the child to God. They wanted to give him a name, of 
course, and some of them said, "Let us call him Zacha- 
rias ; it will please his old father so much." But Elizabeth, 
his mother, the Virgin Mary's cousin, said, "Not so ; but 
he shall be called John." She remembered that this was 
the name the angel said he should be called. But her 
friends thought this name wouldn't do. They said to her, 
" There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name." 
Then they made signs to old Zacharias, who was dumb and 
could not talk to them about it, to know what he thought 
about this important matter of giving the baby a good 
name ; for it is an important thing to give the poor little 
baby in a family, who don't know anything about it, a 
pretty name, which is to be his as long as he lives. Then 
the father made signs for a writing-table and a piece of 

* From " Little and Wise," a volume of sermons to children, pub- 
lished by Robert Carter & Bro., New York. By permission. 



FORTUNE-TELLING. 55 

parchment, such as they used to have in those days, and 
he took it and wrote down in great big letters, so that 
there couldn't be any mistake about it — 

" His name is John !" 

And while they were all wondering what this meant, old 
Zacharias gave a rattling kind of gurgle in his throat, or 
coughed away something that had been like a heavy cold 
on him ; and he who had not spoken a word for nine months, 
now spoke out loudly like the rest of the people, and praised 
God. 

I suppose as soon as he could talk he told them all about 
the vision in the Temple, which had happened to him so 
long ago. He must have been very thankful to get his 
voice once more and be able to speak. I dare say he 
talked for ever so long, and told them how the angel had 
said this unconscious little baby before them was destined 
to be a great prophet of the Lord's, and was to do a won- 
derful work in his day and generation, and was to be a 
second Elijah. And when the people heard about all these 
wonderful things, and how the angel had seen Zacharias 
before, and had told him what name he was to give to the 
child, we read that "They laid them up in their hearts, 
saying, What manner of child shall this be V 

And this is the story of our text ; this is the way in 
which it happened to be written. 

Now let us come to the subject it brings before our 
minds. 

When we look out on the world and on our own life, 
and think of our future, we never can be sure about it, or 
know exactly how it will come out. In days gone by God 
used to send to His chosen people, the Israelites, strong 
men, whom he raised up to do His will and deliver His mes- 
sages. They were called prophets, because they predicted 
the future, or told beforehand how things would be in years 
to come. They used to tell the people of their sins. They 



50 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

were not afraid to go and rebuke kings and princes, and 
tell them God would punish them if they didn't repent 
and do His will. Elijah was one of these prophets, and 
the wicked Queen Jezebel and her husband Ahab tried hard 
to kill him. 

Jeremiah was another of these prophets, and the king 
and the nobles whom he rebuked for their sins were angry 
with him, and threw him into a miserable kind of pit or 
dungeon. 

Daniel was a prophet, and you know he was thrown into 
the lions' den. 

These men were gifted by the Spirit of God with a won- 
derful foresight or knowledge of the future, so that their 
words were at last fulfilled, though years passed by before 
the events they predicted came to pass. Thus it was that 
the captivity of the Jews was told of, years before it came 
to pass ; and Isaiah, the prophet, in the time of the cap- 
tivity, foretold their wonderful deliverance by the Persian 
king, Cyrus. 

John the Baptist — this little infant we have been talking 
about — was the last of these Jewish prophets, and it was 
his great work to preach to the Jewish nation to repent, 
and point them to that Lamb of God who came at last — 
after the prophets had all done their work — to take away 
the sin of the world. 

But God don't tell us now of future events by the min- 
istry of angels or of inspired prophets. He raises up here 
and there great and good men to do His work ; but we don't 
call their words prophecy, or the sure knowledge of the 
future. 

Then there is another way by which some prople think 
they know about the future. You know there are real 
good bank-notes and silver dollars, and then there are 
counterfeit ones. There are true, good oranges — nice and 
juicy, and fit for eating — and there are little oranges, called 



FORTUNE-TELLING. 57 

mock oranges, which are bitter. Then in New York and 
Philadelphia, and in our large cites, there are auction sales 
which are called mock auctions, because the people who 
appear to be bidding up the goods and buying them, are 
bad men who are paid to do this, in order to make poor 
and ignorant or innocent people who come from the coun- 
try, believe that all these persons are really buying goods. 

Well, there are mock prophets in the world, just as there 
are mock oranges and counterfeit bank-notes and silver 
dollars. They are not true prophets ; they do not know 
and cannot tell about the future at all. But they pretend 
to do so. They call themselves fortune-tellers, or clair- 
voyants. Sometimes you can see their advertisements in 
the newspapers. They say they can tell people's fortunes 
by the stars, or by getting into a trance or vision ; and fool- 
ish ignorant persons go to their offices and pay them money 
to know what is going to happen to them. 

Then there is a singular race of people called Gypsies, 
who years ago used to wander all over the face of the earth 
and pretend to tell people's fortunes, by looking at the 
palms of their hands' and the leaves of tea in a tea-cup. 

Some of these gypsies go about the country to this day, 
living in tents like Indians, and dressed up with gay rib- 
bons and flowers. If you want to know more about these 
fortune-tellers or counterfeit prophets, you can read of 
them in one of Hannah More's tracts, called "Black Giles, 
the Preacher," and in another called " Tawney Rachel, the 
Fortune-teller," or in Sir W alter Scott's story of "Guy 
Mannering." This wretched man Giles used to go about 
the country clearing rats out of barns, by means of thin 
little animals called ferrets. When he would get the rats 
all out of one barn, he would go by night and let them 
loose in another ; and in this way he kept the business up 
and was always wanted to "ferret out rats" by means of 
these little animal detectives. His wife, Tawney Rachel, 



58 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

used to go about with him and tell the fortunes of the fool- 
ish country girls and servant maids, and give them all sorts 
of accounts of their future husbands and good luck. 

And even to this day you will find books of Fate, and 
books of Luck, which are supposed to be able to help peo- 
ple in this matter of fortune-telling. 

But, my dear children, we cannot tell of our future lives ; 
we cannot know what manner of children we shall be by 
either of these ways. God doesn't send us prophets to 
foretell events any more. And if He does not send us true 
prophets, depend upon it these mock prophets can never 
truly tell our fortunes. Angels do not come to tell us any 
more, now ; and if angels cannot come and help us, God 
wouldn't let gypsies and fortune-tellers come in and take 
their places. 

But there is one way in which we can very often know 
what manner of people we shall be. King Solomon, who 
w r as the wisest man on earth, once said, "Even a child 
may be known by his doings, whether they be right or 
whether they be wrong." We can reason about things in 
this life, and can very often tell how events will come out 
in the future, by looking at them as we find them now, 
and then using the judgment God has given us. For in- 
stance, here is a house which some workmen are building. 
We know that if the stone is poor and crumbling, and if 
the mortar is bad, and the workmen are poor builders who 
have got the foundation crooked and out of line, that the 
house will be badly built, and that it w T ould not be safe to 
live in it. Or go with me to a ship-yard. Here we see 
carpenters and shipwrights putting in the ribs of a great 
vessel. There is the keel on the ground ; there are the 
men putting in nails and bolts, and chipping off the w r ood. 
It looks like the skeleton frame of some monster animal 
washed up from the sea. But now suppose these workmen 
take poor, rotten, worm-eaten beams, to make the ribs of 



FORTUNE-TELLING. 59 

that vessel ; and suppose nobody prevents them from doing 
this. Will it be a very difficult matter to know what man- 
ner of ship that will be ? Or suppose the colonel of a 
regiment tells one of his captains to be sure and post some 
brave capable man on a certain rock that night, so as to 
give notice of the enemy, whom he is expecting will come 
that way ; and suppose that captain sends out as sentinel 
some man who is a born coward, or one whom he has 
known to get drunk time and again. Is it very hard to 
tell what manner of soldier he is ? Of course it is not ! 
We judge of the house by the foundation, of the ship by 
the wood that is put in it, and of the soldier by the way 
he has behaved himself in the past. 

And so it is with us, my dear children. We can tell 
what kind of persons children will be when they are grown 
up to be men and women, by watching their characters 
when they are young. We can play the part of fortune- 
teller to our own lives, not by waiting for angels to come 
and tell us, or by turning tee-totums and wheels of for- 
tune, or by counting the tea-leaves in the bottom of a 
tea-cup, or looking at the lines in the palm of one's hand, 
but by looking at our own conduct, and by trying to make 
that good and strong. And thus, if we would rightly 
know what manner of children we are to be when we grow 
up, we must learn to do these two things— 

1. We must be guided by our conscience. 

2. We must obey the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I. 

First, We must be guided by our conscience. 

Let me tell you what I mean by this. Here is a ther- 
mometer. I can hold it in my hand, and by looking at it, 
and by marking the mercury in it, can tell the temperature 
of the room. If I put it in the ice-chest, of course the 
quicksilver will sink to the point marked freezing. If I put 



60 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

it near the fire, of course the quicksilver will mount high 
up in the scale. It is a law of the mercury that it must 
rise and expand in the heat, and must sink and contract in 
the cold. So with the barometer, which the sailors have 
at sea. When a storm is coming on and the air is very 
heavy, the mercury in the glass must sink down — down to 
the storm level. So with the magnetic needle of the com- 
pass. It must point its trembling linger to the North, and 
tell us in which direction the Pole is. It must obey the 
hidden law of its existence. So with a watch, when it is 
wound up ; the little wheels must obey the main-spring, and 
must all go round with it. 

Now then, my dear children, all these are illustrations 
of the law of conscience within us. This voice which God 
has given us, to approve when we do right and condemn 
when we do wrong, is just like the mercury in the glass of 
the thermometer. It marks our good actions and our bad 
ones. It says, yes ! yes ! when we do right ; it says, no ! 
no ! when we do wrong. It is just like the barometer, 
which marks when the storm is coming ; it is like the needle 
of the compass, which always points to the North ; it is 
like the main-spring to the watch — if it is obeyed, all the 
other little wheels will go spinning round happily. 

Let me tell you a story of a boy who had a hard time in 
minding his conscience, and who yet was happier in the end 
for doing it. 

"Harry, what is the matter?" said his mother one day 
as he ran in from school, and, throwing down his satchel, 
commenced crying. * ' Have you been kept in ?" 

" No, mother ; but the boys have been laughing at me, 
and I can't stand it. Let me go to another school." 

" What did you do to make - them laugh V 

" They asked me to go with them and tip a poor Avoman's 
apple-stand over, and said it was first-rate fun." 

" What did you say ?" 



FORTUNE-TELLING. 61 

" I said my mother would feel dreadfully to have me to 
do such a thing ; and then they laughed, and Robert Bell 
said, ' Does your mother know you're out V and ano.ther 
boy said I was tied to your apron string. They called me 
a 'tell-tale,' and said I was going to tell the teacher of 
them ; and when I said, ' I have never been brought up to 
tell tales,' Robert Bell called out, ' There's his mother 
again. Three cheers for Harry Reed's mother !' I felt 
angry enough to knock him down." 

"Keep cool, my boy," said Mrs. Reed. "Come sit 
down, and let me see whether you have any reason to be 
so excited." 

' ' mother, you don't know how provoking it is to be 
laughed at, or you wouldn't say so." 

"If mother don't, I do," said Harry's father, who had 
come in just in time to hear his story ; ' ' and I know a 
better way than knocking down." 

"What is that, father?" 

' ' Have true courage, my boy, and don't notice their 
laugher." 

" I have tried. I cannot bear it, father." 

"What kind of a boy is Robert, Harry?" said Mr. 
Reed. 

"He is a new scholar ; his father is rich, and he has 
plenty of money in his pocket every day." 

" Is he a good boy in school ?" 

" No, sir ; our teacher told him to-day that he was more 
trouble than all the rest put together." 

" I suppose, if you were a man, you would fight a duel 
with him, and one kill the other." 

"Why, father, you don't think I'd be so wicked ?" 

"When grown-up people feel as you did to-day, when 
you wanted to knock Robert down, they sometimes meet 
and shoot at each other with pistols, because they won't 
stand being laughed at. It takes more real courage, my 



62 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

dear boy, to do right in spite of ridicule, than to fight. I 
hope you will show yourself a truly brave boy." 

" I will try, father, but it is very hard." 

For a while things went on pretty smoothly with Harry, 
until one day he came home looking flushed and unhappy. 
He sat down to dinner, but just as he had begun to eat, he 
laid down his knife and fork, and, leaning back in his 
chair, said, "I am not hungry, mother." 

1 ' Have you been eating, Harry ?" 

" No, mother ; but Robert Bell acts worse than ever." 

' ' What has he done ?" 

"To-day we were playing at ball, and a little girl, no 
bigger than our Matty, came by with a basket of potatoes 
as heavy as she could carry, and Robert Bell turned it up- 
side down, and scattered them in the gutter. The little 
girl sat down and cried out loud ; and as I started to go 
and pick them up, Robert began to laugh, and said, ' Go 
help your sister, Harry !' " 

' ' Didn't you go and help her ?" 

" No, mother ; the boys laughed so that I could not do 
it." 

1 i My dear Harry, your fear of ridicule has made you do 
wrong already. You fear man more than God. If you 
begin to sin through dread of being laughed at, there is 
no telling where you will stop. I have known young men 
to leave a Christian home with good principles, and rather 
than have wicked companions know that they are obeying 
a pious mother's counsel, they yield to temptation and go 
to ruin." 

" I have felt sorry all day, every time I have thought of 
that poor little girl, mother." 

' ' Well, Harry, then take a bold stand on the side of 
right, and make up your mind you will not do wrong, even 
if you are laughed at." 

"Mother, I have not told you half the trouble I have 



FORTUNE-TELLING. 63 

had to-day. My piece begun, ' My mother, when I learned 
that thou wast dead.' I found it in the new book Uncle 
Edward gave me. I knew it by heart ; but as soon as I 
had said the first line, I saw Robert Bell winking and 
laughing. It put me all out, and I forgot half of it, and 
spoke so poorly that Mr. Lee told me to commit my piece 
perfectly next time." 

" Harry, are you going to let Robert Bell make you 
ashamed of your mother ?" 

"No, mother; but I'm tired of trying to get along. 
After school the boys went off bathing. They begged me 
to go, and said papa was away from home, and never would 
know it, and you wouldn't care. I knew better, and re- 
fused a good many times without giving any reason. At 
last Robert came up and said, ' His mother won't let him,' 
and then went off singing, ' My mother, when I learned 
that thou wast dead !' Now, mother, how can I stay at 
such a school ?" 

' ' Harry, you may find the same trials at any school, and 
after you leave school, and all through your life. Remem- 
ber your conscience within you will be sure to tell you every 
time you go astray. The blush on your cheek will be a 
sign to you when you feel tempted to do wrong. It is 
God's voice speaking to you, as he spoke to Adam and Eve 
in the Garden. Pray to God to help you, and when you 
find the boys disposed to make fun of you, go on in the 
right way. They will soon see your firmness, and let you 
alone. If Christopher Columbus had been like you, he 
never would have discovered America." 
" Was he ever laughed at, mother ?" 
" Yes, Harry, he had to bear a great deal of ridicule be- 
fore he could persuade people that he was anything but an 
idle adventurer. When he tried to prove the existence of 
undiscovered land beyond the sea, he was laughed at and 
persecuted in many ways. He did not mind it, but went 



64 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

on and accomplished his discovery, and silenced his adver- 
saries. He is now a revered and honored man." 

" Everybody can't be like Christopher Columbus, moth- 
er." 

' ' Well, my dear boy, every one can imitate Christ. 
Wicked men clothed him in purple robes, mocked him, 
and blindfolded him, and smote him in the face. They 
laughed at him, and wagged their heads when he was dy- 
ing. He never became angry, though his slightest wish 
could have destroyed them. He prayed for his cruel mock- 
ers with his last breath. Now, Harry, if you will pray to 
Christ, he will make you a brave Christian, and you will 
be thankful as long as you live, that you learned to bear 
ridicule in your youth." 

Remember this story, my dear children ; and remember 
how Harry's mother was right in reminding her boy of the 
example of Christopher Columbus. People laughed at him 
and derided him in every way, but he felt something within 
him telling him that he was right ; and then when once he 
was sure that he was right, see how grandly he went ahead, 
and was not afraid of the world's ridicule. 

And so, if we want to know what manner of people we 
will be when we are grown up, we must, first of all, learn 
to be guided by the conscience God has given us. 

II. 

And then, secondly, We must obey the Lord Jesus Christ. 

You remember when our Saviour was on earth, on one 
occasion when he was with his disciples in a little boat, 
there came up a storm on the lake. Jesus was asleep in the 
stern of the boat ! Think how tired he must have been to 
sleep through a storm, with the wind blowing, and the 
boat pitching about ! The disciples went to him and waked 
him up, saying, " Master, carest thou not that we perish ?" 
Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea, and there 



FORTUNE-TELLING. 65 

was a great calm. The disciples were very much astonished 
at this, and we read they said, " What manner of man is 
this, that even the wind and the sea obey him ?" 

And if the hosts of heaven, and the stormy sea, and all 
the forces of nature obey the Son of God, surely we too 
ought in the same way to obey Him ! And if we learn to 
obey well when we are children, we will be very likely to 
obey when we grow up to be men and women. 

It is one of the very saddest things in the world to see 
those who grew up with us in childhood — who played to- 
gether and went to Sunday-school together — turning out 
badly in life, and then reaping the fruit of the seed they 
have sowed in their young days. It is so much like that 
hymn we sometimes sing — ■ 

" Sowing the seed by the daylight fair, 

Sowing the seed by the noonday glare, 

Sowing the seed by the fading light, 

Sowing the seed in the solemn night ; 
Oh, what shall the harvest be ? 

Sown in the darkness or sown in the light, 

Sown in our weakness or sown in our might, 
Gathered in time or eternity — 
Sure, ah ! sure will the harvest be !'* 

Now God has revealed His will to us in the Bible. He 
has there given us His laws and commandments. Jesus 
Christ, the son of God, came down from heaven on pur- 
pose to reveal to us our heavenly Father's true character. 
He came to tell us what a dreadful thing sin is ; how it 
will keep us from entering heaven. He came to show us 
what a bright and happy world awaits all those who are 
followers of God as dear children. And, if any one wants 
to be a true fortune-teller to his life, and know what man- 
ner of child he will be when he is grown, he must learn to 
obey the commandments Christ has given us, and must 
learn to love him, so that he would not do anything that 



GQ SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

would hurt or grieve him, if he were here upon earth to- 
day. 

Two little boys were at play in a garden where there was 
a large tree full of ripe cherries. 

"0, Frank," said one of them, "let us pick some of 
these red cherries ; look how fine they are !" 

" Xo, Willie," said the other, "we must not touch 
them. You know Ave were told not to pick one of them." 

" But, Frank, there is no one here to see us ; you need 
not be afraid. And if your father should find out that we 
took them, he is so kind that he would not hurt you." 

" That is why I will not touch them," said Frank to 
Willie. " I know my father would not hurt me ; yet for 
me to disobey would hurt my father, and I would not wish 
to grieve him." 

And this is just the way we ought to feel about obeying 
the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Look at Simon Peter. He wanted to obey his Lord. 
He drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the high 
priest's servants, when they seized Jesus in the garden. 
No doubt he thought he was doing right. But he was 
an impulsive man — one who was taken by surprise in his 
weak moments. He couldn't bear to have the servant- 
girl in Pilate's Hall think that he belonged to Jesus, 
though only a few moments before he had been the first to 
draw his sword. He said he didn't know Christ. He 
denied him with an oath. Think of it ! But Jesus didn't 
speak a word to rebuke him. We read that ' ' the Lord 
turned and looked upon Peter." That was all. It was 
only a look. But that was enough. Peter couldn't stand 
that look. He felt that he had grieved his Lord when he 
was all alone and wanted his disciples to stand by him, 
and he wrapped his mantle around his face and ran out of 
the crowded hall into the cold, black, lonely night, and 
cried like a heart-broken child ; he " wept bitterly." 



FORTUNE-TELLING. 67 

And now we must close. 

Let me tell } r ou one more story. 

A good many years ago a family were moving from the 
east to western Pennsylvania. 

The father and mother and one child were in a carriage, 
while a boy about ten years of age followed upon a pony. 

The road was a pleasant one among green fields, then 
tall forests and great mountains ; and the little boy en- 
joyed all that he saw. 

As the party were passing along a rough road, they met 
a man on horseback — a stout, hardy fellow, just fit for the 
wild region in which he lived. Across his horse lay the 
body of an animal which, even in death, looked terrible. 

" AYhat's that ?" asked the little stranger. 

"A wolf I killed up here on the mountain," said the 
man, with a look of satisfaction in his face as he rode on. 

The boy's pleasure was over. He did not care to ride 
alone in a region where such wolves were to be seen. 

He had felt very happy and independent before, travel- 
ing on his pony ; but now he drew up to the side of the 
carriage, and asked to get in there with his father and 
mother. They took him in with them, and for the re- 
mainder of the journey he was quite content to see the lit- 
tle pony tied behind the carriage, while he rode safely 
within. 

And just so it is with you, my dear children. You don't 
realize the dangers that are around you ; you hear of them 
from your parents, and your friends tell you of them ; but 
you are like this little boy who didn't fear any wolves, or 
know anything about them until he saw one once, and then 
he was glad enough to get into the carriage with his father 
and mother. 

Remember then what we have been talking about in this 
sermon. Remember that the best way to tell about your 
future fortune is : 



68 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

1st. To be guided by the conscience God has given you, 
and 

2d. To obey the Lord Jesus Christ. 

In this way you will be kept from the sin and tempta- 
tion in the world, and you will become a servant of Christ, 
as John the Baptist was, when his friends asked that ques- 
tion — asked of every little child — as they looked upon his 
little baby form wrapped in swaddling clothes, and said, 
" What manner of child shall this be ?" 



Bible Link:— An angel appears to Joseph of Nazareth— Matt. 1. 

18-25. 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 

By Rev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

Thou shalt call his name Jesus : for he shall save his people 
from their sms." — Matt. 1. 21. 

A great king, of whom, perhaps, some of you have 
heard, had two countries that he ruled. One of them was 
large and pleasant and beautiful, and the other small and 
unpleasant and rough. In the pleasant country the king 
lived, and the city in which he had his palace had streets 
paved with gold. Its gates were made of pearls, and there 
were precious stones and gold and silver in the walls of the 
buildings. The trees bore fruit every month, and their 
leaves had power to heal disease ; but the inhabitants of 
that country never said " I am sick." The king walked 
and talked with his people, and they were so happy that 
they sang very joyfully and shouted the praises of their 
king. 

The king also loved the other rough country where his 
people dwelt, but they were very wicked and disobedient ; 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 69 

and when he went to live among them at the first, they 
drove him away by their unkindness. And yet he sent 
messengers almost every day to tell them that he loved 
them, and to promise that if they would send messengers 
to him, he would give them every good thing they desired. 
He told them he would come near to the borders of the 
pleasant country and talk with them across the stream that 
separated the two lands. But these wicked people killed 
many of these messengers, and stoned others, and cursed 
their noble king. But he loved them so that he sent his 
own son, the prince of his kingdom, to tell them about his 
great love for them. This prince put away his beautiful 
robes and dressed like a poor man, and walked with these 
wicked people, and slept with them in their fishing boats, 
and wept with them in their grave-yards, and talked with 
them kindly everywhere. They had disobeyed the laws of 
their king, and were to be punished with death ; but this 
kind prince offered to take the punishment in their stead, 
and died for them, so that the king offered to forgive all 
who would ask to be forgiven. Who was this great king ? 
(God.) What do we call the pleasant country ? (Heaven.) - 
What do we call the other country ? (The earth.) What 
is the sweetest name of the prince who was punished in 
our stead ? (Jesus.) In that part of the Bible which we 
call Matthew, in the first chapter and twenty-first verse, we 
see why the angels told his mother to give him that name : 
" Thou shalt call his name Jesus : for he shall his people 
from their sins." 

MEANING OF NAMES. 

Now names always mean something. How many boys 
here are named John ? John means "gift of God," and 
every John should give himself back to God, to work for 
Him and love Him always. Charles means ''manly;" 
Eichard, " liberal ;" David, "beloved;" Peter, "rock- 
firm;" Abner, "light;" Albert, "bright;" William,. 



70 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

"firm;" Alfred, "counsellor;" Ira, "watchful;" Elijah, 
"Jehovah, my God." 

How many of the girls are named Annie ? Annie means 
"merciful;" Ida, "Godlike;" Ada, "happy beauty;" 
Josie, "one who saves others ;" Kate, "pure ;" Jane and 
Jennie, "full of grace ;" Lizzie and Elizabeth, "consecra- 
ted ;" Lucy, " daybreak ;" Ellen, Ella, Ellinore and Nellie, 
"light;" Augusta and Mary, "exalted;" Margaret, "a 
pearl." 

In old times people called a pearl a " margaret." In an 
old Bible the pearl of great price was called ' ' a precious 
margaret." A little girl named Margaret saw this, and was 
very happy to find her name in the Bible. All the Marys, 
Marthas, Ruths, Abigails, Graces and Charities can also 
find their names in the Bible. My name is not in the 
Bible. But there is a better place than the Bible to have 
our names, and we may all have our names there. 

You see by what I have said that names mean some- 
thing. Was Jesus called by more than one name ? Yes ; 
He had more than a hundred names. Tell me some of 
them and I will put the first letter of each on the black- 
board. Lamb, Lord, Light, Leader, Rose, Rock, Shep- 
herd, Saviour, Vine, Wisdom, Emmanuel, King, Christ, 
God. 

Which of these names of the Saviour do you like best ? 
(Jesus.) Why was he called Jesus ? Read the reason 
with me : " For he shall save his people from their sins." 

I wonder if we all understand that word " sins ?" How 
many of these children ever heard any one swear, or lie, or 
speak angrily, or use vulgar words ? Is it right to say 
such things ? Did you ever do any of these wrong things ? 
Think, and answer to God silently in your own hearts. 
What does God call all wrong words and deeds ? (Sins.) 
Whenever you or I do wrong, God writes in his book, 
" John used bad words," or " Mary did a naughty deed." 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 7l 

Would you just now like to see God ? When we have 
been doing wrong and have not been forgiven, we wouldn't 
like to see God. But remember that he sees us all the 
time. We cannot be happy here or go to be with God in 
heaven, unless we are clean inside from sin. 

Little Kittle said one day to her mother, ' ' Papa calls me 
good, aunty calls me good, and everybody calls me good, 
but I am not good." " I am very sorry," said her mother. 
"And so ami; but I have got a very naughty think." 
"A naughty what?" asked her mother. " My think is 
naughty inside of me." Her mother asked what she meant. 
" Why," said she, "when I could not ride yesterday, I 
did not cry or anything, but when you was gone I wished 
the carriage would turn over and the horses would run 
away, and everything bad ; I thought all kinds of naughty 
things. Nobody but God knew it, and He cannot call me 
good. Tell me, mamma, how can I be good inside of me ?" 

Who can save us from our sins ? (Jesus.) Yes. He 
was punished in our stead on the cruel cross, that we might 
be forgiven. He was not put on the cross because he w T as 
naughty, but because we were naughty ; and he didn't 
want us to be punished, and so he was punished in our 
stead. Let us offer together right now what the little girl 
called the " Snow Prayer" — "Wash me, and I shall be 
whiter than snow." Another little girl, who had been very 
sad because her sins were not forgiven, became very glad ; 
and when people asked her why she was so happy, she said, 
" Oh ! I was so wicked, and God was angry with me ; but 
now He has forgiven me, and that is why I am so happy." 
God had written all her wrong words and naughty deeds, 
all her "bads," on His book; but when she prayed He 
rubbed them all out for Jesus' sake, for He has promised 
to those who pray to be forgiven, " Thy sins and iniqui- 
ties will I remember no more ;" and also, " Blessed are the 
pure in heart : for they shall see God." When our hearts 



72 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

are forgiven and made clean, we shall want to see God, and 
be glad to think that God is near us now, and that by and 
by we may be near Him in heaven forever. Let us all bow 
down and pray that God will forgive all our sins and help 
us to love and obey Him always. 



Bible Link — The birth of Jesus — Luke 2. 1-13. 



NO ROOM FOR JESUS. 

By Rev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

There was no room for them in the inn. — Luke 2. t I. 

When Christ was born, God put a star over his cradle ; 
angels proclaimed his birth in song ; Jewish shepherds 
and Gentile magi hurried to the wondrous Babe, and wor- 
shiped him ; but ' ' there was no room for him in the 
inn" — the rude hotel at Bethlehem — and so Mary laid him 
in a stable manger. The stable was a cave where cattle 
were kept, and the manger was a little trough of stone 
from which the cattle were fed. Jesus was so humble, so 
poor, so insignificant to the eyes of the people, that they 
would not crowd the poorest guest to give him room, and 
so his friends were obliged to make his baby bed in the 
hay of the stable. There was no room for him a few days 
after in all the land of Judea, and he was carried into 
Egypt, because Herod sought to kill him. There was no 
room for him as a man even in Jerusalem, where he was 
going about doing good ; for they took up stones to stone 
him, and he hurried away to the little cottage at Bethany. 
The world had no room for Jesus, except in the manger, in 
the wilderness, in the terrible shadow of Gethsemane, in 
the shameful hall of Pilate, on the painful cross of Calvary, 
and in the gloomy tomb in Joseph's garden. 



NO ROOM FOR JESUS. 73 

But he made room for himself when he shook the 
world with the earthquake of Calvary. 

When the Swiss army once marched toward the host of 
their Austrian invaders, they found them drawn up in a 
circle with their spears pointed forward in every direction, 
so that the first who attacked them would be sure to per- 
ish. There was no way for the Swiss patriots to attack 
their enemies until this should be broken. You all know 
the familiar story how Arnold Winkelried rushed forward 
and grasped eight of the spears in his arms, crying, 

" MAKE WAY FOR LIBERTY !" 

And while the spears were piercing his heart, his compan- 
ions rushed through the breach he had made, and won the 
victory. The world's hatred and jealousy and pride and 
selfishness were pointed toward Jesus from every side, and 
there seemed no room for his precious truth ; but on 
Calvary he grasped these spears of malice and selfishness 
and pride, and while they pierced his heart, he made way 
for his truth. The cross made room for Jesus, and his 
kingdom is spreading every day. First, it shook Jerusalem 
on Pentecost, when three thousand were converted ; then 
the Gospel spread through Judea and Samaria, and now 
every nation has heard of Jesus, even to the uttermost 
parts of the earth, and we have two Pentecosts a day — six 
thousand converted every twenty-four hours on the aver- 
age — and at last " His dominion shall be from sea to sea." 
As Jesus came to the world, so he comes every day to 
our hearts. The Holy Spirit comes before him to cry, 
■ ■ Lift up your heads, ye gates of the heart, and the 
King of Glory shall come in ;" and Jesus himself says with 
his sweet voice, " Behold, I stand at the door of your soul 
and knock ; if you will open unto me, I will come in and 
sup with you." Kind friends tell you in angel words, 
" Unto you there is a Saviour, even Christ the Lord." He 
does not. wait for you to come to him, like the wise men 



74 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

and the shepherds, with gifts and worship, but he comes 
to you. Have you opened the door of your hearts and let 
your Saviour come in ; or do you say, ' ' There is no room 
for Jesus in my heart" ? In your studies, in your work, in 
your play, in your time, is there no room for Jesus ? 
Many years ago a young man was 

SAVED FROM A BURNING HOUSE 

by a relative. As time rolled on, that man became rich 
and influential, while his preserver, by the force of circum- 
stances, gradually sank from comparative wealth to ex- 
treme poverty. At last, driven to despair, he presented 
himself at the dwelling of his wealthy relative, succeeded 
in obtaining an interview, and begged for relief. What do 
you think that man did ? He spurned him from his door 
in disdain and contempt. That was very ungrateful, but it 
would be just as much so if we should shut out of our 
hearts that Jesus who has saved us by his own death. 

My Christmas does not come on the 25th of December. 
Whenever you make room for Jesus in your hearts, 

THAT DAY IS YOUR CHRISTMAS. 

My Christmas is on the 8th of August. On that day- 
Jesus came into my heart and made it his manger cradle, 
when I was only twelve years old. Having heard my 
father, the Sunday before, preach a sermon on being asham- 
ed of Jesus, and having just heard a sermon on the text, 
" At evening time it shall be light," I came to Christ, and 
he was born in me. That meeting was my Bethlehem, 
for there I found Jesus, and gave him the gold and frank- 
incense of my repentance and my love. 

My heart is made a manger for the coming of the Lord ; 
He's sweetly born within me, whom heavenly hosts adored. 
The morning star above me now bids the darkness cease ; 
The angel choirs are hailing my glorious Prince cf Peace. 



i 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 75 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS.* 

By JOHN RUSKIN, Oxford, England. 

Christmas time, of all times, is calculated to make 
young people happy, because of the great event celebrated 
at this gladsome season, when the infant Saviour was born 
that he might make all people happy, and especially the 
little ones, whom he so much loves. But to be happy, my 
dear young friends, you must try to make others happy — 
your parents, and those who have charge over you — by 
seeking to do what is right and good. I was noticing, in 
the hymn you sang, the words — 

" Shall we gather at the river 
Where bright angels' feet have trod ?" 

which seemed to carry one on to the future, instead of 
thinking of the present. Not only have angels trod this 
earth in old times, but they do tread it now ; for they are 
often about us, helping us in many ways — present at our 
tables, and present at our beds — and we ought to think of 
this, and rejoice that we have such heavenly companion- 
ship. 

I was much interested this morning in reading the ac- 
count of the angels visiting the shepherds of Bethlehem, 
and telling them about the infant Saviour born there. It 
is a strange thing that shepherds were more honored than 
the wise men of the East ; for these were simply guided by 

* Mr. John Ruskin gave a dinner to the children of Coniston and 
neighborhood, making quite a new era in the season's festivities. 
About two hundred and sixty young persons were present. The 
proceedings opened with the singing of one or two hymns, after 
which Mr. Ruskin addressed the children. 



16 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

a star and directed to make inquiry where Christ was to be 
born, but the shepherds were told by an angel the precise 
place where they were to find him. And he was born in 
Bethlehem. You perhaps know that means "the House • 
of Bread. " Singular thing, that he who is ' ' the Bread 
of Life" should have "the House of Bread" for his 
birthplace. He wishes us to be happy here as well as 
hereafter. See how he looked after the wants of those 
around him. He fed five thousand men with bread. He 
gave to his disciples bread and fish, already cooked, on 
the margin of the lake of Galilee. You have your lake 
here, and fish swimming in the lake. You can imagine 
the disciples feeding upon what he had supplied, and how 
thankful they must have been. 

Then, again, I see in that beautiful hymn we are taught 
to pray — 

" Jesus here from sin deliver." 

This is what we want : to be delivered from our sins. You 
know Jesus came as "the Lamb of God, who taketh away 
the sin of the world." This was what John the Baptist 
said ; and so we must look to the Saviour to deliver us 
from sin. It is right we should be punished for our sins 
which we have done ; but God loves us, and wishes to be 
kind to us, that we may not wilfully sin. So try, my dear 
children, to be good and kind to those about you and over 
you. Remember our Saviour said, " I stand at the door 
and knock ; if any man [or child] open the door, I will 
come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." That 
is, he will make us happy, if we but receive him in our 
hearts, and will minister to our present as well as our 
future wants. 



THE LORD'S NAME DAY. 77 



Bible LrxK— " The Lord's Name Day"— Matt. 1. 25 (last clause) ; 
Luke 2. 21. 



THE LORD'S NAME DAY. 

By Eev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

When eight days ivere accomplished, his name was called 
Jesus. — Luke 2. 11. 

New Year's Day is sometimes called the Lord's Name 
Day, because the Saviour, eight days after his birth, was 
called " Jesus" — the name which the angels had told his 
mother to call him ; and New Year's Day is eight days af- 
ter Christmas — the .time when we celebrate the birth of 
Christ, reckoning both days as the Jews did. Let us make 
to-day a Lord's Name Day by thinking about the names of 
Jesus as a sort of rosary in our hearts. 

I hold in my hand a rosary of beads such as is used by 
the people in the Roman Catholic Church, and also by 
some heathen worshipers of idols, to count their prayers. 
They put the thumb and finger on one bead, and hold it 
while they say the prayer as fast as they can mumble ; and 
then they take hold of the next bead and hurry through 
another prayer ; and so on till they get around where they 
started. Then they know they have said as many prayers 
as there are beads in the rosary. They think God will be 
pleased if they say a great many prayers with their lips, 
even though they do not stop to think what they are say- 
ing in their words. God tells us that he would rather 
have us pray a few words and think about them, than to 
say a great many words without our hearts talking to him. 
Prayers that we say without thinking what we are saying 



78 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

fall to the ground. God does not hear them. Only the 
prayers that have the love of our hearts behind them fly up 
to heaven. Our loving thoughts about God make wings 
for our words, so that they may reach the throne of God. 
But there is a kind of rosary that we may have in our 
hearts, out of sight, that would be pleasing to God, and 
very appropriate for this Lord's Name Day. This rosary 
would not be made of beads, but names of Jesus, of 
which there are more than a hundred. Please hunt them 
out in the Bible and stop over each one as if you were 
holding a bead, and say, ' ' What does this mean ? What 
does it tell me about Jesus, and what he can do for me 
and for others ?" 

The first name you will find that was given to the Sav- 
iour, was that which God spoke to Adam and Eve when 
he called Jesus "the Seed of the woman," so that they 
might know that Jesus would be born as a little babe, that 
he might win the love of children. One of the other 
names that was first given to the Saviour was this — "A 
Star out of Jacob ;" a name that was given him by the 
prophet Balaam. That was to show men that as the star 
sheds light into the darkness, so Jesus would bring joy and 
forgiveness to the sad and sinful hearts of men. Moses 
called Jesus our Brother, when he said, "A prophet shall 
the Lord raise up unto you from your brethren, like unto 
me. Him shall ye hear." This tells us that Jesus is like 
a big brother who loves us very much, and is wise enough 
to teach us and guide us, and strong enough to pro- 
tect us against those who would do us harm. David 
called Jesus a King, because all over the world the hearts 
of men and women and children would learn to love Jesus, 
and then to obey him as their Ruler. Isaiah called the 
Saviour by many beautiful names. He said, "His name 
shall be called Wonderful," because of the wonderful words 
Jesus would speak, and the wonderful works he would do ; 



THE LORD'S NAME DAY. 79 

and lie said he would also be called " Counsellor," because 
when people did not know what was best to do, they 
would come to the words of Jesus in the Bible, and learn 
there just what ought to be done. And Isaiah said Jesus 
would also be called "Mighty God," because God would 
live in his soul in such a wonderful way that he could 
still the storms upon the sea, and make a little bread 
enough to feed a great multitude, and could heal people 
who were sick in a moment, and raise to life those who 
were dead. And Isaiah said Jesus would be called the 
Everlasting Father, because as a father pitieth his children, 
so Jesus would pity the hearts of men. So Malachi called 
Jesus ' ' a Refiner and Purifier of silver, " because as the 
refiners take the silver when it has come out of the moun- 
tains all mixed with lead and rock and dirt, and get all 
these impurities out of it, to make it pure and precious sil- 
ver, so Jesus would drive badness out of the hearts of those 
that loved him, and make them pure and precious in the 
sight of God, so that He would rejoice over them as the 
woman rejoiced that found the lost piece of silver. 

John the Baptist called Jesus a Lamb, because he would 
be gentle as a lamb ; and because as the lambs were killed 
upon the altars, so Jesus would die upon the cross, that 
men might be forgiven. Peter often called Jesus "the 
Christ," a word which means "anointed;" because when 
a man was made king, precious ointment — much sweeter 
than Cologne — was poured upon his head, and filled the 
room with fragrance ; so when we speak of Jesus as Christ, 
it means that he is a king. James called Jesus "the 
Lord of Glory," because he is Lord of all the angels in 
heaven, as well as of the people on the earth. John called 
Jesus the "Son of God," because long before the world 
was made, or the first man lived upon it, Jesus was with 
the Father as his only Son, and by him God made the 
worlds. Paul usually called the Saviour " our Lord Jesus 



80 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Christ." He calls him by that name ten times in ten 
verses of one of his letters. He seemed to rejoice to 
write the name as that of his dearest friend. That name 
reminds us that Jesus is Lord in heaven and King- on earth : 
and the word "Jesus' 1 — the most precious of all the Sav- 
iour's names — means that he shall save his people from 
their sins. 

Something that happened one New Year's Day, as the 
Jews measure their year, will show you how Jesus saved 
the people from their sins. The Jews were slaves in 
Egypt, and were made to work very hard without any pay, 
and were whipped and wronged in many ways, and all 
their little boys were killed as soon as they were born. 
God told the wicked Egyptians to let the Jews go free, to 
go to another country. The Egyptians would not obey 
God, and so he sent the Angel of Death through their 
towns and cities, to kill one in every house. And He told 
the Jews — His own people — how they could save themselves 
from being killed. In every house they were to kill a lit- 
tle lamb and take some of the blood and sprinkle it on the 
outside of the door, so that the destroying angel would see 
the mark of God's people, and pass over them. That was 
called the Passover. Jesus, the Lamb of God, died on the 
cross in our stead, that we might not be punished, and 
saves us from sin, and from the death of the soul. Every 
boy or girl who will kneel to-day before God and ask Him 
for pardon in Jesus' name, will be forgiven ; and if you 
love, trust and obey Christ as a good child loves, trusts 
and obeys his father and mother, then Jesus will be your 
Saviour and King forever. 



SLAUGTHER OF THE CHILDREN. 81 



Bible Link— Jesus carried to God's temple, and Simeon's joy at 
seeing him— Luke 2. 22-38. Wise men come from far to see 
Jesus, and Herod seeks to kill him— Matt. 2. 1-23 ; Luke 2. 39. 



HEROD'S SLAUGHTER OF THE CHILDREN. 

By Rev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

Herod slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, in all 
• the coasts thereof, from two years old and under. — Matt. 
2. 16. 

While the people who work in Bands of Hope and 
Juvenile Temperance Unions have for their watchword, 
"Save the Boys," there are other people in the world 
whose motto seems to be, " Destroy the Children." 
Pharaoh, the king of Egpt, enslaved the Jews who were 
in his land, and made their lives bitter with bondage, but 
God's blessing made them increase in numbers, in spite of 
all the king's hatred and cruelty ; and so the king gave the 
command that all the boys that should be born should be 
killed. You know that Moses was one of the children that 
was born among the Jews at this time. He was saved 
from death by what we might call a Band of Hope, though 
they did not have any such name at that time. There 
were three members to the Band of Hope — one of them 
Moses' mother ; another, Miriam, Moses' sister, twelve years 
old ; and the third was a young lady, Pharaoh's daughter. 
In a Band of Hope every person is expected to do some- 
thing to save others. Moses' mother did her part by hid- 
ing Moses away in her home for three months, and then 
contriving a nice plan for saving him. The plan was to 



82 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

have him put in a little wicker basket, and laid in the tall 
grass on the bank of the river where the king's daughter 
used to bathe, thinking that the womanly heart of Pha- 
raoh's daughter would take pity on the little child, and save 
him. Miriam did her part in that Band of Hope, by watch- 
ing her brother as he lay there among the reeds by the 
river's brink, and afterwards by saying just the right word 
and doing just the right thing to save the little fellow. 
Pharaoh's daughter — the young lady of the Band — did her 
part by taking pity on the little boy when she saw him by 
the river, and adopting him to be her son, and thus saved 
him from death. 

In these days the king that tries hardest to kill the chil- 
dren is King Alcohol — that which makes people drunk — 
beer and rum. King Alcohol does not kill children by a 
gun or sword in a minute, but he kills them slowly, by 
poisoning them with intoxicating drinks. 

Sometimes he gets a father to help him. A man who 
was in jail for killing another man, and was to be hung in 
a few days, said, " A teaspoonful of rum toddy brought 
me to this — made me commit this awful murder, for which 
I am to be hung. When I was a child, my father was in 
the habit of taking me on his knee at dinner time and giv- 
ing me a teaspoonful out of his glass. By this means the 
taste for drink was acquired, under the influence of which 
I did the crime for which I am about to suffer." 

Sometimes King Alcohol destroys the boys by getting 
them to go to drinking saloons, where they learn not only 
to drink, but to gamble and to be licentious. 

A friend of mine, who is a temperance man, counted 
four hundred boys and girls in one saloon at one time, al- 
though the law said that no one should sell intoxicating 
drinks to any boy or girl. 

Dr. Willard Parker, one of the greatest doctors in the 
world, says that one-third of all the people that die in New 



SLAUGHTER OF THE CHILDREN. 83 

York are brought to death by the influence of this awful 
poison, alcohol, which slowly but surely kills boys who be- 
gin to drink it. 

I am thinking now of some other people whose watch- 
word was, "Kill the Boys." There were ten shepherds, 
grown-up men, brothers, who saw their younger brother, 
about seventeen years old, coming to bring them food and 
news from home ; and because they thought the father, as 
most fathers do, loved the youngest boy better than the 
older ones, they took him and threw him into an empty well, 
and then took him out when they found a chance to sell 
him to some cruel Arabs, who were going into a far coun- 
try, where they would make him a slave. You know that 
I mean Joseph, and you remember how God helped him 
to get out of slavery and become a ruler. 

There are ten brothers that in these days sell boys into 
slavery. Their names are "Brandy Sauce," "Bitters," 
"Cider," "Beer," "Ale," "Wine," "Gin," "Brandy," 
"Rum," and "Whisky." These ten are brothers, be- 
cause all of them contain the alcohol that makes people 
drunk. When one has been taking brandy sauce in food, 
or bitters with alcohol in them for medicine, or cider, or 
beer or wine, at first they don't care much fpr it* and can 
stop as easy as not ; but by and by they cannot get along 
without it. They cannot go by a liquor shop without 
going in, they have such a strong appetite for these drinks. 
And then they want the stronger drinks, ale and brandy 
and whisky, It seems as if a chain was around their necks 
to draw them into the liquor shop to make them drunk 
almost every day, although they know that they are wast- 
ing their money, injuring their bodies, and making their 
friends unhappy. Let me explain to you how it is. 

I take this thread and tie this boy's arms. He can snap 
the threads as easily as not. That is like the boy that is 
just beginning to drink. He can stop as easily as not. Now 



84 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

I tie this boy's liands with twine, and it is harder to break 
it, but he can do it. That is like the boy who has been 
drinking for a little while, who has got to liking the liquor, 
but can stop if he tries. Now I take this large rope, and I 
tie this boy's hands and feet with it, and no matter how 
hard he pulls, he cannot break it. That is like a man 
who has been drinking a long time. When he finds that 
drink is making him poor and sick and unhappy, foolish 
and cruel, he tries to stop drinking, but he cannot do it of 
himself. Now I cut these knots, and this boy is free. 
That is like the case of a drunkard who could not break 
away from drinking, who prayed that God would help him, 
and asked God's people to help him by their prayers, and 
gave his heart to Jesus to be a Christian. And so God 
gave him new strength, so that he could break away from 
drinking. 

" The Lion of Judah can break every chain, 
And give us the victory again and again." 

Herod was another who had for his watchword, " De- 
stroy the Children." When he heard that Jesus was born 
in Bethlehem to be a king, he did not understand that 
Jesus was to be a king of men's hearts, and thought he 
was to be a king with a crown on his head, with soldiers 
about him ; that he would take the throne and the palace 
where Herod was, and drive him away. Herod did not 
know just what house to find Jesus in, and so he told his 
soldiers to kill all the children that were two years of age 
and under, in Bethlehem and the country around it, so 
that he might be sure to kill the little king ; but God warned 
the mother of Jesus of the coming danger, and told her to 
flee away into Egypt ; so Jesus' life was saved. 

The Herod who tries to kill the children to-day is King 
Alcohol ; but God, in the Bible, warns us to flee away from 
him, to keep away from the saloons, to work in the Bands 



BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 85 

of Hope, to take the pledge and stick to it, to spend our 
evenings at home. Especially God says to us in his word, 
1 *■ Look not upon the wine when it is red. At the last it 
biteth like a serpent. Whosoever is deceived thereby is 
not wise." And so we can escape from this Herod of 
alcohol, and grow up to be Christ-like in this world, and by 
and by to be kings in heaven forever and ever. 



Bible Link — Jesus goes to Jerusalem in a great procession when he 
is twelve years of age — Luke 2. 40-52. 



BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 

By Kev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor ivith 
God and man. — Luke 2. 52. 

Although Jesus came down from heaven, yet in his 
boyhood he was like other boys. " He grew in stature," 
with no evil habits, such as smoking cigarettes, and doing 
other things too foul to mention, to stunt his growth. 
Doubtless every year at his birthday he measured him- 
self on the side of the house, to see how fast he was grow- 
ing. But he also " increased in wisdom," in the thinking 
part of him. His mother taught him a great many things, 
especially about the Bible. At five years of age he began 
to learn by heart the Commandments and other texts, which 
he afterward used to repeat when he grew up to be a 
minister. Probably he went to some such school as I saw 
at Xazareth, where about twentv-five little Arab boys with 
red caps on their heads were sitting cross-legged on the 
floor, which was covered with straw matting, there being 
no seat in the room, except one for the teacher. Each boy 



86 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

had before him a little ink-bottle, and in his hand a sharp- 
ened reed for a pen, and a tin slate like the one I hold in 
my hand, on which had been written a verse from the book 
called the Koran. All the boys were moving their bodies 
backward and forward and saying their verses aloud. As 
I stooped over to see what was on one of the slates, a 
roguish boy behind me gave me a push which almost tip- 
ped me over, making me think that boys in Nazareth were 
very much like boys in America. The teacher very quickly 
boxed the little fellow's ears, which made all the others, for 
fear of a like punishment, move their bodies faster and say 
their verses louder. When Jesus was a boy he probably 
went to such a school and wrote on his slate verses from 
the Bible to commit to memory. 

Another way that Jesus grew in wisdom was by " asking 
questions." Abraham Lincoln became the great and wise 
man that he was in the same way. He lived in boyhood 
in a wild country, where he could only go to school for a 
few weeks, and so when he grew up he learned most that 
he knew by asking questions about everything that he saw r 
on a farm or in a shop or in the streets, that he did not 
already understand. The only true story that we have 
about Jesus' boyhood tells us that once when he had gone 
from Nazareth to a great city called Jerusalem, in a great 
procession of people, for a festival that was like a whole 
week of Christmas days, his mother lost sight of him, and 
hunted around for two days before she could find him. I 
suppose she looked in all the candy shops and wherever the 
boys were playing, and last of all she thought she would 
look in the church, the big temple, and there she found 
him, in one of the rooms, sitting cross-legged on the floor 
at the feet of the wise teachers, asking them questions 
about the Bible and about God and heaven. They were 
very much " astonished" to find how much he already 
knew about these things. Children to-day might learn a 



BOYHOOD OP JESUS. 87 

great deal more than they do about such matters if they 
would study their Sunday-school lessons and then ask ques- 
tions of parents and teachers about whatever they could not 
understand. 

Another thing that is told us about Jesus' boyhood is 
that he was obedient to his mother. I once saw in the 
papers an advertisement printed in this way : " Wanted 
for a store— a boy that obeys his mother.'''' The man who 
kept that store knew that if a boy did not mind his mother 
at home, he would not obey his master in a store, or be so 
likely to obey the laws of the country against stealing and 
other wrongs, and the laws of God. The world does not 
want in business or anywhere else boys who do not mind 
their mothers. Home is a little school of obedience. If 
we do not learn to obey the laws of home, we shall be very 
likely to break the laws of the country and get into prison 
at last. 

One other thing that the Bible tells us about Jesus' boy- 
hood is, that he was diligent in his duties. A certain 
bishop, who lived long after Jesus did, wished very much 
to know what Jesus did in his boyhood, about which the 
Bible tells us so little. After that, one day he had this 
dream. He seemed in his sleep to see a carpenter working 
at his trade, and beside him a little boy who was gathering 
up chips. Then came in a woman clothed in green, who 
called them both to dinner and set porridge before them. 
All this the bishop seemed to see in his dream, himself 
standing behind the door, that he might not be perceived. 
Then the little boy said, ' ' Why does that man stand 
there ? Shall he not also eat with us ?" And this so 
frightened the bishop that he awoke. 

In the very building at Nazareth where it is said Joseph, 
the husband of Mary, worked as a carpenter, there is a pic- 
ture on the wall of Joseph at one end of a board, which ho 



88 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

is measuring with a string, and Jesus as a little boy at the 
other end, holding one end of the string, and helping 
Joseph at his work. We know that Jesus before he be- 
came a minister worked in such ways as a little carpenter 
in the shop of Joseph at Nazareth. He was helpful at 
home ; and the boy that would be like Jesus must do like- 
wise. 

But Jesus was diligent in another kind of business. One 
day when he was in the church or temple, studying the 
Bible and talking about God and heaven, he called it his 
heavenly " Father's business" that he was doing. Some- 
times a man has a little shop and another very large one. 
So Jesus teaches us that what we do in our common work 
is our little business, and what we do to make men Chris- 
tians is our great business ; and he teaches us that a boy 
twelve years old is not too young to begin doing business for 
his heavenly Father, by being a Christian himself and try- 
ing to lead others to be Christians. When Jesus was twelve 
years old, like other boys of that country, he joined the 
church, put the boxes called phylacteries on his fore- 
head and arm, with verses of the Bible in them, and put 
on his shoulders the talith, with blue bands in it, that re- 
minded the people they were going to heaven beyond the 
blue sky. And so all the boys of good parents and all the 
boys that loved God began to be workers in the church 
when they were twelve years old, the same age at which 
your pastor and a great many others have joined the church 
in these days, and some when they were not half as old. 

I will give to every child who is here to-day a little 
covenant to sign, if you will now begin to do business for 
the heavenly Father by trying to love Jesus yourself and to 
get others to love him. Surely if Christ became a boy, 
every boy ought to try to be like Christ. 



THE CHILD JESUS. 89 



THE CHILDREN'S_CHRISTIAN BAND. 

"MY LAMBS." 
DEAR LITTLE FRIEND :— Can you, from tour heart, 

ANSWER "YES" TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS? — 

Do you love Jesus ? 

Are you trusting in Jesus as your own precious Saviour ? 

Will you try, by the help of Jesus, to give up everything 

that is sinful ? 
Will you try to be more like Jesus every day ? 

"SEEK ME EARLY.' » 
Name—, Residence 



THE CHILD JESUS.* 

By the Late DEAN STANLEY, London. 

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with 
wisdom ; and the grace of God was upon him. — Luke 

2. 40. 

This day is called the day of the Holy Innocents, be- 
cause it calls upon us to remember the death of those little 
children who were killed at Bethlehem at the time of our 
Saviour's birth, when he also was a little child like them. 
It is also a day famous in this Abbey, because it was on 
this day, more than eight hundred years ago, that this 
great church was finished by its first founder, King Edward 
the Confessor, who was himself an innocent, guileless 

* An Address to Children assembled in Westminster Abbey, on 
Thursday, December 28, 1871. 



90 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

man, almost like a little child. We have thought, there- 
fore, that it might be good to mark this day by gathering 
together here as many children as could come, and putting 
before them the example which our Saviour set to all chil- 
dren, he having been himself a little child and a little boy, 
such as those who are here to-day. For this purpose the 
different passages of Scripture have been chosen that have 
been sung or read to-day — the eighth Psalm in order that 
you might see how little children may be taught to find out 
the glory of God in the great works of nature, the beauti- 
ful sights and sounds that they see and hear around them ; 
and the fifteenth Psalm in order to show how, from our 
earliest years down to our latest age, that in which God 
finds most pleasure is the humble, pure, truthful, honora- 
ble mind ; and the one hundred and twenty-seventh Psalm 
in order to impress upon parents what precious, inestima- 
ble gifts are given to them in their little children. And 
then the anthem has been chosen in order to remind all 
who are young how precious to them are the days of their 
youth, and how the one thing which they must bear in 
mind from first to last is to " Fear God and keep His com- 
mandments ; for this is the whole duty of man :" and the 
hymn in order to show how all of us, even the youngest, 
may come to our gracious Saviour to ask him to have pity 
upon us. And the lessons were chosen, the first in order 
to remind you how little Samuel knelt upon his knees at 
morning and evening, waiting for the voice of God to tell 
him what he was to do. And the second lesson — which is 
what I will specially speak of now — is the example of our 
Saviour himself as the little child. Let me, then, take 
these words, that may be useful both for the parents and 
friends of those children who are here ; and also, I hope, 
for the children themselves, if they will listen to what I 
say. 

First of all it says, "The child" — that is, the child 



THE CHILD JESUS. 91 

Jesus — "grew." He grew in stature and he grew in char- 
acter and goodness. He did not stand still. Although it 
was God himself who was revealed to us in the life of Je- 
sus Christ, yet this did not prevent him from being made 
like unto us in all things, sin only excepted. It has been 
reverently and truly said — 

"Was not our Lord a little child, 
Taught by degrees to pray ; 
By father dear and mother niild 
Instructed day by day V" 

Yes, he was ; we need not fear to say so, and in this 
lies the example for us. Each one of us, whether old or 
young, must remember that progress, improvement, going 
on, advance, change into something better and better, 
wiser and wiser, year by year — this is the only condition, 
the only way of our becoming like Christ, and, therefore, 
like God. Do not think that you will always be, that you 
must always be as you are now. No ; you will grow up 
gradually to be something very different ; you must in- 
crease and grow in mind as well as in body, in wisdom as 
well as in stature. The world moves, and you and all of 
us must move with it. God calls us and all ever to some- 
thing higher and higher ; and that higher stage you and I 
and the whole world must reach by steadily advancing 
towards it. 

And then comes three things especially which the text 
puts before us as those in which our Lord's earthly educa- 
tion, in which the advance and improvement of his earth- 
ly character added to his youthful and childlike powers. 
First, it speaks of his strength of character. It says, he 
" waxed strong in spirit." Strong ! What a word is that 
for all of you, my dear children. You know — little boys 
especially know — how you value and honor those who are 
strong in body. The strong limb, the fleet foot, the sturdy 
arm, the active frame ! you do well to value these things ; 



92 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

they are God's gifts. The body which can endure blows 
without flinching, and which can toil without fatigue ; 
which can win the race, conquer in the game, or vanquish 
in the struggle ; these are what you all wish to have. 
But what this strength is to the body, that strength of 
character is to the mind. A stout heart, that is what you 
want — a stout heart which will be able to resist all the 
temptations to do wrong, which scorns to tell a lie, which 
will never consent to be betrayed into doing what is wrong ; 
a strong, hardy conscience, which fixes itself on matters of 
real importance, and will not trifle, will not waste its 
powers on things of no concern. Therefore, I say, be 
stronger and stronger every year. I could not say to you, 
perhaps, be stronger in body every year, for that is not 
within our power to gain if we have it not ; but we can 
say be stronger in spirit, be strong in mind, be strong in 
character, be stout in heart, for this does come by trying 
to have it. It comes by being always reminded that it 
will come if you strive to get it. It comes to those who 
are determined to seek it. Be strong, therefore, and very 
courageous. 

And the next thing which the text speaks of is wisdom. 
It says the child was " filled with wisdom." Wisdom, as 
it were, was poured into him, and his mind opened wider 
and wider to take it in. He drank in whatever wisdom 
there was in the knowledge of those about him ; he drank 
in the heavenly wisdom also which comes down from the 
fountain of all wisdom. You, too, have this to gain day 
by day. Those especially who are at school are sent to 
school for that very purpose, to have your minds opened — 
to take in all that your teachers can pour into them — to be 
ready for this instruction whenever it comes to you from 
books, from looking at what you see about you, from con- 
versation, from experience, as you grow older in life. You 
need not be old before your time, but you must even now 



THE CHILD JESUS. 93 

be making the best use of your time. These are the golden 
days which never come back to you, which if once lost can 
never be entirely made up. Our great King Alfred used to 
regret in after years nothing so much as that, owing to his 
long wanderings and troubles when he was young, he had 
not had the opportunity of regular instruction at school. 
Seek, therefore, for wisdom ; pray for it, determine to have 
it, and God, who gives to those who ask for it, will give it 
to you. Try to gain it as our Lord gained it when he was 
a child, by hearing, and by asking questions. By hear- 
ing ; that is by being teachable, and humble, and modest, 
by fixing your attention on what you have to learn. And 
also, as he did, by asking questions ; that is, by trying to 
know the meaning of what you learn, by cross-questioning 
yourselves, by inquiring right and left to fill up the blanks 
in your minds. Nothing is more charming to see than a 
little child listening — not interrupting, but eager to hear 
what is taught. Nothing is more charming than to see a 
little child asking questions. That is the very way in 
which we are able to know whether you take in what has 
been taught you. 

And the next thing is the grace or favor of God, or, as 
it says at the end of the chapter, the grace, or favor, of 
God and man ; the grace, the goodness, the graciousness 
of God, which calls forth grace and goodness and gracious- 
ness in man. Our blessed Lord had this always ; but even 
in him it increased more and more. It increased as he 
grew older, as he saw more and more of the work which 
was given him to do. He felt more and more that God was 
his Father, and that men were his brothers, and that grace 
and loving-kindness was the best and the dearest gift from 
God to man, and from man to man, and from man to God. 
He was subject to his parents ; he did what they told him ; 
and so he became dear to them. He was kind and gentle 
and courteous to those about him, so that they always liked 



94 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

to see him when he came in and out amongst them. So 
may it be with 3-011. Look upon God as your dear Father 
in heaven who loves you, and who wishes nothing but your 
happiness. Look upon your school-fellows and companions 
as brothers, to whom you must show whatever kindness 
and forbearance you can. Just as this beautiful building in 
which we are assembled is made up of a number of small 
stones beautifully carved, every one of which helps to make 
up the grace and beauty of the whole, so is all the state of 
the world made up of the graces and goodnesses not only 
of full-grown men and full-grown women, but of little chil- 
dren who will be — at least if they live — full-grown men and 
full-grown women. Remember, then, all you who are pa- 
rents — remember still more especially all you who are chil- 
dren — remember this day ; and if ever you are tempted to 
do wrong, or to be idle, or to be rude and careless, or to 
leave off saying your prayers, then think of your Saviour's 
good example which has been put before you this night in 
Westminster Abbev. 



Bible Link — About John the Baptizer and his sermons — Matt. 3. 
1-12 ; Mark 1. 1-8 ; Luke 1. 80 ; 3. 21-23. The Baptism of Je- 
sus— Matt. 3. 13-17 ; Mark 1. 9-11 ; Luke 3. 21-23. The Temp- 
tation of Jesus— Matt. 4. 1-11 ; Mark 1. 12, 13 ; Luke 4. 1-13. 
Jesus calls men to follow him — John 1. 19-51. 



WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS. 

By Rev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

Follow Me. — John 1. 43. 

When Jesus began to preach, he used to say sometimes 
to a man whom he would find at his work, * ' Follow me ;" 
and the man would leave his earthly business to journey 
with Jesus, and learn of him how to be good and do 



FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS. 95 

good. I have sometimes called these two words, ' ' the 
children's creed." They tell us in eight letters the most 
important thing about religion, after our sins are forgiven 
and our hearts are converted — to follow Jesus. 

A little boy, in one of my Sunday-schools, when he 
came to die, showed that he had understood what the 
words meant, for he said, " I have been trying to walk in 
the footsteps of Jesus." That is what Jesus meant when 
he told men to follow him. It was not merely to come 
after him and walk with him, but to try to be like him in 
thoughts and words and deeds. The disciple that Jesus 
loved more than any other, because he was the noblest, 
had for his motto, as we see in his letters, the words, 
"Even as He ;" which meant that in everything he tried to 
be even as Jesus was. 

Being like him means a great deal for a child to-day. 
A Sunday-school teacher, the Sunday after the lesson on 
"Following Jesus," said to her class of little ones, " What 
have you done to follow Jesus this week ?" One said, 
"I have prayed." That was a right answer, for Jesus 
used to pray every day, and sometimes all night. Another 
answered, " I have read the Bible." That was a true an- 
swer also, for Jesus read the Bible so much that he could 
repeat a great many verses out of his memory. Another 
child answered the question, " What have you done to fol- 
low Jesus this week ?" "I have washed the dishes ;" and 
another said,* " I have been good in school ;" and another 
said, "I have kept my ears clean." All these were right 
answers also ; for Jesus, in his home, helped Joseph the 
carpenter about his work ; and when he was in school at 
Nazareth, he did no wrong or mean thing ; and we feel 
sure that he remembered that cleanliness is next to godli- 
ness. 

I heard of another little girl who had to work, who an- 
swered the question, " How are you trying to help Jesus ?" 



96 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

by saying, "I scrubs." And I read of an old colored 
woman who, after a hard day washing clothes, sang, as she 
climbed the stairs at night, ' ' One more day's work for 
Jesus." 

A little bootblack blacked a gentleman's boots very nice- 
ly, and the gentleman said, " Do you think that will please 
me ?" The boy said, ' ' I don't know ; but I think it will 
please my Father in heaven." 

"Poor fellow ! said the gentleman ; "then your father 
is dead, is he ?" 

"Oh, no," said the boy; "I don't mean that. My 
Father up in heaven is God." 

" Then," said the gentleman, "you think that blacking 
my boots so nicely will please God, the heavenly Father, 
do you ?" 

"Yes," said the boy, " I think God is pleased to have 
us do everything the best we can." 

Let us all remember that in scrubbing, washing, black- 
ing boots — any kind of work — we can be following Jesus, 
if we try to do the best we can ; for Jesus was a carpenter 
and labored hard and faithfully. We want to be Chris- 
tians, not only in the night and morning when we pray, 
and on Sunday when we sing, but in our daily studies and 
errands and work. 

A little girl was walking home from church, holding on 
the hand of her mother, who was talking with a lady by 
her side. The little girl heard her mother say, " I think 
Sophie is a Christian." She was astonished. Sophie a 
Christian ! She was a child very near her own age, and 
this little girl played with her every day, and never knew 
that she was a Christian. She had an idea that a Chris- 
tian child should be very sober and quiet, and not care for 
play, only for reading the Bible and other good books. 
She thought to herself that she would watch Sophie, and 
see if she acted like a Christian. 



FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS. 97 

Next day she found that Sophie was bright and cheerful, 
and as much interested in play as ever. She helped her 
little friend kindly when she needed help. Her face 
flushed as she kept back the impatient word, as her little 
friend vexed her. And when her mother called her to do 
an errand which she did not like to do, she went without a 
word of complaint. So the little girl saw that Sophie was 
indeed a Christian, and she longed to be one herself. 

Sophie was walking in the footsteps of Jesus, who, 
" when he was reviled, reviled not again ;" who kept back 
impatient words, and kindly helped those who needed 
help — and he was generally cheerful and happy, and, when 
a boy, doubtless was as fond of play as other boys. 

I must tell you of some other children who walked in 
the footsteps of Jesus in comforting a sad heart. 

A curious old woman, having a bundle in her hand, and 
walking with a painful effort, sat down on a curbstone to 
rest. She was curious, because her garments were neat 
and clean, though threadbare ; and curious, because a 
smile crossed her wrinkled face as children passed her. It 
might have been this smile that attracted a group of three 
little ones, the oldest about nine. They stood in a row in 
front of the old woman, saying never a word, but watch- 
ing her face. The smile brightened, lingered, and then 
suddenly faded away, and a corner of the old calico apron 
went up to wipe away a tear. Then the eldest child step- 
ped forward and asked, "Are you sorry because you 
haven't got any children ?" 

" I — I had children once, but they are all dead," whis- 
pered the woman, a sob in her throat. 

"I'm awful sorry," said the little girl, as her own chin 
quivered. " Fd give you one of my little brothers here, 
but you see I haven't got but two, and I don't believe I d 
like to spare one." 

' ' God bless you, child — bless you forever !" sobbed the 



98 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

old woman ; and for a full minute her face was buried in 
her apron. 

" But I'll tell you what I'll do," seriously continued the 
child. "You may kiss us all once ; and, if little Ben isn't 
afraid, you may kiss him four times, for he's just as sweet 
as candy !" 

Passers by, who saw the three well-dressed children put 
their arms around that strange old woman's neck and kiss 
her, were greatly puzzled. They didn't know the hearts 
of children, and they didn't hear the woman's words as she 
rose to go : "O children ! I'm only a poor old woman, 
believing Td nothing to live for ; but you've given me a 
lighter heart than I've had for ten long years !" Those 
children were following Jesus in comforting the sad. 

Every day we should seek to have the mh'd that was in 
Christ Jesus, who cared more to please God and do good 
than for anything else in the world. By-and-by, those 
who seek to walk in the footsteps of Jesus here, and who 
cannot be quite like him in everything, bee mse he did no 
sin, will see him as he is, and be satisfied as they awake 
in his likeness. 

" I want to be like Jesus, 
So lowly and so meek ; 
For no one marked an angry word 
That ever heard Him speak !" 

Now let us all sing, with glad voices and loving hearts, 
our promise to follow Jesus, and to try to be more like him 
every day. 



FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS. 99 

FOLLOW ME. 

Rev. W. F. Cbafts. D. F. E. Aubek. 



* j My heart has heard the Saviour saying, ' ; Follow me, fol-lowme : " i 
j My sins I left, and Christ obeying, Beat the knee, bent the knee, j 

■0- • -0-0- • -0- ^ . 



Thou bid' st the little children come, Lest in the paths of sin we roam, 



S^^^^l^rt^P 



And when we reach our Father's home, Rest with thee, rest with thee. 



2 The footsteps of niy blessed Saviour 

Mine shall be, mine shall be : 
Like his my words, my whole behavior 

All shnll see, all shall see. 
My heart be like the Saviour's mind, 
My words like his be ever kind, 
Till in my soul I nothing find 

Unlike thee, unlike thee. 

3 In heaven at last The Laimb that leads us, 

We shall see, we shall see ; 
While with the heavenly joy he feeds us, 

Glad and free ! glad and free ! 
The lambs that follow him below 
With him through heavenly fields shall go, 
And all his wondrous love he'll show 

Unto me, unto thee. 



100 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



Bible Link — A Marriage Feast. — John 2. 1-12. Jesus cleanses the 
temple — John 2. 13-25. He talks with Nicodeinus — John 3. 1-21. 
More about the Baptizer — John 3. 22-36. Journeys of Jesus — 
Matt. 4. 12 ; 14. 3-5 ; Mark 1. 14 ; 6. 17-20 ; Luke 3. 18 ; 4. 14 ; 3. 
19, 20 ; John 4. 1-3 ; 4. 4-42. Miracles and teachings of Jesus — 
Matt. 4. 17 ; Mark 1. 14, 15 ; Luke 4. 14 ; John 4. 43-54. Jesus 
visits his old home in Nazareth, and is shamefully ill-treated— 
Matt. 4. 13-16 ; Luke 4. 15-31. He calls Peter and Andrew to be 
his disciples — Matt. 4. 18-22; Mark 1. 16-20; Luke 5. 1-11. 
Jesus heals a demoniac — Mark 1. 21-28 ; Luke 4. 31-37. Jesus 
restores Peter's wife's mother to health, and many others, and 
teaches the people— Matt. 8. 14-17; 4. 23-25; Mark 1. 29-39; 
Luke 4. 38-44. Jesus heals a leper — Matt. 8. 2-4 ; Mark 1. 40-45 ; 
Luke 5. 12-16. 



JESUS HEALING THE LEPER. 

By JOSIAH SPIERS, of the Children's Special Service Mis- 
sion of London. 

Jesus had been up the mountain, side, and as he came 
down the great multitude of people were all waiting to 
listen to him, waiting to come to him ; and as he 
Avalked slowly along they followed him. And now some- 
thing happens. All at once a man came forward. One 
and another w r ould make room for the poor fellow 7 , and 
here comes the leper quite close to Jesus. There he 
stands ; but he docs not stand long. He comes close, and 
falls down on his knees to worship him, and puts up this 
earnest cry : ' ' Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me 
clean." 

Now you know what kind of disease leprosy is. It is 
not a little, slight ailment, like a cold that sometimes a 
child has, and you say, "That little girl is rather poorly 
to-day, but she will be all right to-morrow." Leprosy is 
a verv terrible disease indeed. There are various kinds of 



JESUS HEALING THE LEFER. 101 

it, some worse than others. Some kinds are terribly con- 
tagious ; if a man went near the leper, he would catch the 
disease. But all kinds are very terrible, and very horrible 
to look at. The man was not fit to be seen or to be 
touched. You would like to get away from him as soon 
as you could. If it was the very contagious kind, he had 
to leave his home, his wife, and children, and live in a sep- 
arate place. If he saw any one coming to shake hands, or 
anything of that sort, he would fall down on the ground 
and cry out, "Unclean! unclean! I am a poor leper ; 
don't come near me, or else perhaps you will catch the 
disease." 

This poor leper came and fell down before Jesus. Lep- 
rosy is a frightful disease to look at ; and what a horrible 
thing it must be to have it ! When I was going over the 
Infirmary at Stoke-upon-Trent, where there are a large 
number of patients, I wanted to see every one, to give 
them a sheet of children's hymns and a little book. The 
matron was showing me right over, and when we got near- 
ly all through it, the lady said to me, ' ' Would you be 
afraid to see a man who has a very terrible disease ?" I 
said, " Xo, I should like to see all." " We have a man," 
she said, ' ' that has a kind of Egyptian leprosy, horrible 
beyond all description ; it is not contagious, but you will 
have such a turn when you see him, it will make you feel 
very bad." When I saw him it gave me such a fright, 
that I gave him the papers, and got away as far as I 
could. 

Xow this poor man we read of, came and fell down be- 
fore the Mighty Physician, before the Great and Blessed 
Saviour, the Son of God — he came and fell down on the 
ground, and put up this little cry : "'Lord, if thou wilt, 
thou canst make me clean. Lord, if thou wilt, thou 
canst make me clean." 

Xow let us see if there was any answer. Did Jesus 



102 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

take the trouble to answer ? "Was he too busy preaching 
to all the crowds, to attend to one poor miserable leper ? 
No ! he did not keep him waiting a bit. The man was in 
real earnest, he really wanted to be healed ; and the Sav- 
iour did not keep him waiting at all. He did not come 
and say the words over carelessly, or anyhow, but his very 
soul was in the prayer : Look at me ! see what I am ! a 
miserable leper, not fit to be touched ! I know I am not fit 
even to be looked upon; but "Lord, if thou wilt, thou 
canst make me clean." 

Now, what Avas the answer ? Listen ! Why it says, 
" Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him." Touched 
him ! Why, I felt as if I dare not touch that man in the 
Infirmary. But Jesus put out his hand and touched him ; 
and as he touched him, see that beautiful smile that came 
over his face, and listen to the gracious words that came 
out of his mouth : "I will ; be thou clean. And imme- 
diately his leprosy was cleansed." 

Why did Jesus touch this poor leper ? Have you ever 
thought of that ? What was the reason ? Would it not 
have been as well if Jesus had gone a few steps back, 
climbed up the mountain, and then called out in a loud 
voice to that terrible disease, "Leprosy, begone from that 
poor man at once ?" Would not that have been quite as 
well ? The man would have been healed. 

Do you remember that time when you were so sick and 
ill, and had to keep in your bed for several days ? You 
could not get up to play, you could not read — perhaps you 
were in a burning fever. And do you remember what 
happened ? I think I can remember something of the sort 
when I was a boy. Do you not recollect your mother 
coming up to the side of your bed, sitting down beside 
you, and taking your poor feverish hand in hers ? And 
do you not remember how it seemed to comfort you ? 
And when she put her nice cool hand on your forehead, 



JESUS HEALING THE LEPER. 10a 

did you not almost forget the pain ? It showed how she 
felt for you, sympathized with you ; and you felt how her 
heart was filled with tender sympathy and love. 

Why did Jesus touch this leper — put His hand upon 
him ? Oh, think of it ! Think of that blessed Saviour 
who took little children in his arms, putting his hand on 
that poor leper, with the filthy symptoms of leprosy upon 
him, horrible to behold ! Yes, Jesus puts his kind, gen- 
tle hand upon him, and says some words of love and some 
words of power : "I will ; be thou clean." He saw the 
man there all covered with leprosy, all over with the horri- 
ble marks. He looked at him, and as soon as ever that 
loving hand touched him, and those tender lips said the 
words, see him jump up on his feet a new man. He says, 
"I am well ; cured and healed ; the leprosy is all gone. 
Here I am, a perfectly whole man ; there is nothing the 
matter a bit with me." Not one of the leprous marks re- 
main upon the poor fellow. Oh, don't you think he 
jumped with joy 1 And then, I fancy, he must have 
knelt down again, and thanked Jesus for making him well. 
I think he mu t have poured out his heart in thankfulness 
to him who healed him of his terrible disease. 

Jesus touched the man — as it were, made himself one 
with him, put himself right down alongside that poor 
leper, and shewed how much his heart loved him. We 
read in Isaiah of Jesus being stricken for us, just as if he 
became a leper for us. 

Xow, has this anything to do with the boys and girls in 
the Free Assembly Hall to-night I — with you up there in 
the gallery ? with that young man there, with that young 
lady, with these little girls here ? " O yes," some of you 
may say. It is a very nice little story, but it is all over ; it 
happened eighteen hundred years ago, and it has nothing 
to do with us to-day ; there are no lepers here to-day. 

Wait a minute. Do yon know there are one hundred 



104 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

thousand poor miserable lepers living in India now at this 
time \ But there are more in Scotland. "Oh, that is a 
at mistake, Mr. Spiers." Is it \ Why, there are a 
great many lepers here to-night. 

Leprosy is a type of sin ; it is used over and over again 
in Scripture as a picture of the poor sinner. You have 
got the marks of leprosy. You look very nice as you sit 
there. You say, there is no leprosy on me at all. Wait 
a minute ; look into your hearts and see. That girl there 
is a leper, and that one, and that boy, and this one. 
Your heart has got the dreadful marks of leprosy, of sin ; 
you are a leper, or a sinner. Do you see what I mean — 
what God's word means ? Leprosy or sin every child has. 
And what a terrible thing it is ! 

I will fancy a thing : that as soon as ever you were able 
to understand at all, your father and mother made up their 
minds that whenever you did a bad thing they would write 
it on a bit of paper, and put it in a bag, and keep all these 
bits of paper. How long would it take to fill a big bag ? 
And how long would it be before that great sack was quite 
fall ? And suppose the sack was chained to your back with 
a great chain, and you could not get it off, do all you 
could, and you were obliged to come to the meeting to- 
night with that sack on your back. I think I hear you 
saying, " Would you please to let me into the back seats ?" 
Why, you would all be wanting to go into the back seats — 
there would be nobody in front at all — you would be so 
ashamed of that sack, and that anybody should see you. 

Well, God sees the many sins in your heart. He looks 
down into your soul, and sees all the bad marks of sin 
there. Oh, what a terrible sight ! And Jesus, who is 
here to-night, sees in your heart, and sees that you are, 
indeed, a poor leper. 

There was a little girl once made a prayer of this text. 
She knelt down in the room, and said the leper's prayer, 



POWER TO FORGIVE. 105 

with a little alteration. She said, "0 Lord, thou wilt, 
and thou canst, make me clean ; please do it now, for 
Christ's sake. Amen." That little prayer was heard and 
answered. Dear children, offer up that prayer now, and 
leave out the "if." Did not Jesus show his willingness 
and power ? And why is this written down, but just to 
show that he is able to save your soul, and to wash away 
all these sins — that he is willing to touch you with the 
hand of his power and tender love to-night ? Will you 
come to him and say — 

" O God, in the blood that for sinners did flow, 
"Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." 



Bible Llnk — Jesus heals one sick of the palsy— Mat. 9. 2-8 ; Mask 
2. 1-12 ; Luke 5. 17-26. 



POWER TO FORGIVE. 

By Rev. CLAYTON WELLES, Waterloo, Iowa. 

Who can forgive sins but God only ? The Son of man hath 
power on earth to forgive sins. — Mark 2. 7, 10. 

A man who had no power to help himself because of a 
terrible disease called the palsy, was one day brought to 
Jesus. There were so many people in the house where 
Jesus was, that they who brought the sick man could not 
get in, so they took the invalid up on the roof and made 
an opening, and so let him down just before the Lord. 
Jesus was interrupted in what he was saying ; but after all 
he was pleased with the faith of the sick man's friends. Sc 
he looked kindly on the sick man, and probably saw that 
the disease had been brought on by a wicked life, and that 
the poor man was troubled about his sins as well as his 
sickness. Jesus, therefore, to comfort his heart, said to 



106 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

him, " Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." When his audience 
heard that, some of them looked very much surprised and 
shocked, as much as to say, ' ' Why ! why ! you have no 
power to forgive sins !" " Who can forgive sins but God 
only." 

And Jesus saw what they were thinking, but he went 
right on to show them that he had a right to say it, by 
healing the poor helpless man's body whose sins he had 
forgiven. 

He proved that the " Son of man," as he called him- 
self, had the power to forgive sins like God, because he had 
power to heal the sick. Turning to the palsied man, he 
said, ' ' Arise, take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine 
house." And he who could not move so much as a hand 
or a foot before, now moved his whole body, sat up, stood 
up, took up his bed and went away cured before them all. 
I don't know whether those grumblers were satisfied now. 
You know it often takes a great deal to satisfy grumblers. 
But the rest of the people were all glad to think that, like 
God himself, Jesus had power to heal sick people and to 
forgive sins. From all this we should learn and remember, 

1st. That our Lord Jesus has God's power to forgive sins 
among men. He certainly has no less power now that he 
is exalted to the right hand of God, than he had then. 
When we have sinned against God, and brought sorrow and 
suffering to ourselves or others, our loving Saviour has 
power to forgive us and comfort us, if we come to him 
sorry, and determined not to do the wrong any more. 

Secondly. Jesus is always ready to forgive. Here he 
was right in the midst of his speaking, and he broke off to 
comfort and cure this sorrowing sufferer. Some speakers 
would have been vexed at such an interruption, but Jesus 
was glad of an opportunity to forgive sins and restore 
health. 

Thirdly. We see that friends can bring each other to 



THE PHARISEES ANSWERED. 107 

Jesus. This sick man never could have come but for his 
friends. I have known many a child who has helped bring 
a sinner to a forgiving Saviour. Often it has been one of 
their own family, perhaps father or mother. Can't you 
help bring some one ? 

Fourthly. We should be always ready to forgive. 
Jesus sets the example for us all to follow. He even tells 
us that if we wish to have our sins forgiven, we must for- 
give those who offend against us. With real kindness of 
heart for every one, therefore, let us come and bring others 
to Jesus, who is always ready to exercise his power to for- 



Bible Link — Matthew becomes a disciple — Matt. 9. 9 ; Mark 2, 13, 
14 ; Luke 5. 27, 28. Jesus heals a sick man at Bethesda — Jons 5. 
1-47. Jesus talks with the Pharisees— Matt. 12. 1-8 ; Mark 2. 23- 
28 : Luke 6. 1-5. 



THE PHARISEES AXSWERED. 

Br Rev. CLAYTON WELLES, Waterloo, Iowa. 

And the Pharisees said unto him. — Mark 2. 24. 

One very pleasant thing about the Lord Jesus when he 
was on earth was that he allowed all people to come to 
him and ask questions. He turned his preaching service 
into a Sunday-school class, and, as every good teacher does, 
allowed the scholars to ask questions. There was a party 
called Pharisees among the Jews, who were very fond of 
talking and putting themselves forward, so they might be 
seen and heard ; and these often asked hard or fault-finding 
questions. 

They were people who pretended to be very religious. 
But very much of what they did in the name of religion, 
was not done from love to God at all. but from love of 



108 SEKMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

praise. They wanted to have people think they were good, 
far more than they wanted really to be good. They pro- 
fessed to be very careful to do everything which was in the 
law, but what they cared most for was that people should 
give them great credit for keeping the law. AVhen they 
fasted they would sprinkle ashes over their heads and faces 
and tear their clothes and go about looking as hungry and 
sorrowful as they could, so that they might appear unto 
men to fast. 

When they prayed they would stand on the corners of 
the streets, and in public places, and make very long, loud 
prayers, so they might be thought very devout. When 
tliey kept their Sabbath they made a great fuss about that, 
and had a great number of foolish rules which they said 
everybody must obey. 

One was that no man should carry any burden on the 
Sabbath day ; but if the same burden were carried by two 
then the Sabbath would not be broken. 

A knot which could be untied with one hand might be 
untied, but if it required two hands, it was wicked to do it. 
So these were the sort of people who came and asked why 
the disciples of Jesus did not fast as they did. And Jesus 
answered, that fasting was nothing except as it was done in 
a proper spirit and time. AVhen people were filled with 
happiness was no time for sadness, any more than an old 
worn-out garment was a good place for new cloth, which 
would not keep the old rotten cloth from tearing out again 
in a new place ; or any more than an old wine-skin which 
had stretched all it could, Avas a good place for new wine 
which needed a wine-skin which would give some and yet 
not burst. 

Then they asked him, Why he allowed his disciples to 
pick ears of corn to eat on the Sabbath day, and he ans- 
v.ered, that men should not be slaves to mere rules, and 
starve themselves when they needed food, but that even 



CHRIST AND HIS DISCIPLES. 109 

the Sabbath day was made to benefit and not to injure man. 
They asked another question by their actions. They 
watched him, to see if he would heal a man who had a 
withered hand on the Sabbath day. And he answered 
them this time by asking a question : ' ' Is it lawful to do 
good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil ?" They could say 
nothing, and so were answered. And then he showed them 
what he thought about it by, telling the man to stretch out 
his little dried-up hand, when it became whole as the other. 
In this strong opposition which Jesus here and every- 
where makes to the Pharisees, I think we are to find two 
very useful lessons. 1st. We should never do any good 
and right action merely for the sake of being seen. Of 
course we should always do right ; but we should do it be- 
cause it is right and best ; not so that we can get the credit 
for being what we are not. 2d. We should not be too 
sure in our opinions of others. They may be much better 
or much worse than they seem to us. The people thought 
the Pharisees were very holy, but Jesus saw that they were 
full of pride and hypocrisy. We cannot see people's 
hearts, and so should think of them kindly. They may 
be better than we think they are. 



Bible Link — Jesus heals many who are sick — Matt. 12. 9-21 ; Mark 
3. 1-12 ; Luke 6. 6-11. Jesus chooses twelve apostles and heals 
the sick— Matt. 10. 2-4 ; Mark 3. 13-19 ; Luke 6. 12-19. 



CHRIST AXD HIS DISCIPLES. 

By Rev. RICHABD CORDLEY, Emporia, Kansas. 

Our lesson this week is about " Jesus and his disciples " 
(Mark 3. 6-19). They are down by beautiful little sea of 
Galilee, where Jesus loved to be so much. It was a some- 
what quiet place, a little out of the way. But no place 



110 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

could be quiet for hiin. The people all about bad heard 
of bis wonderful works ; bow be had cured the sick ; how 
he made the blind to see ; how he made the deaf to hear, 
and the lame to walk. The news of this spread all over 
the country, and the sick and the suffering from every- 
where came to him. They that had sick children, or sick 
friends, brought them to be cured. It must have been a 
wonderful sight. Here is a lame man, carried by his 
friends, and laid at Jesus' feet. Jesus speaks to him, and 
he leaps up, and goes away strong and well. Here comes 
a blind man who has never seen the light. Jesus touches 
his eyes, and the fields and the mountains, and the trees 
and the flowers, are all shown to him at once. Here comes 
a deaf man who has never heard sound ; and as he goes 
away, he hears for the first time the dashing of the waters 
and the singing of the birds. 

But the more he heals the more his fame spreads. 
Every one that is cured goes home and tells about it, and 
all his neighbors come next day. Every day the crowd 
grows larger, and they come from farther around. They 
come from the great city of Jerusalem ; from away up 
north among the mountains, and by the great sea ; and 
from the other side of the river Jordan. They have found 
out that if they can only touch him they will be cured, 
and they crowd around him to touch him. 

At last the crowd becomes so great that Jesus orders his 
disciples to get a boat and push out into the sea, so that 
he can have a little rest. He wants to be alone with them 
a little while, so that he can tell them what he wants to 
have them do. He had called them before, one by one, as 
he found them — one by his fish-boat, another in his office, 
and another under the fig-tree. But then he only told 
them to follow him ; now he wants to tell what they are 
to do. So after they enter the boat, they sail along the 
shore till they come to a quiet place, and Jesus goes up 



CHRIST AND MIS DISCIPLES. Ill 

into a mountain, and calls just those he wants — just the 
twelve he had called before. 

These twelve are to be his apostles — "apostle" means 
" one sent."' These twelve were sent by Christ to tell about 
the kingdom of God, and how to be saved. In this lesson 
it says they are to do three things. First, "tjiey are to 
be with him," to see what he does, and to hear what he 
says. Then he wants to send them out to preach, to tell 
other people what they have seen and heard, and let them 
know about Jesus, and what he was going to do for them. 
Then they were to cast out devils and heal the sick. They 
were to do what Jesus himself had been doing, help every 
body they could and tell every body about this kingdom 
of God. They had been with Jesus and seen him work. 
They no doubt became very much interested in his work, 
and many times they wished they could help. It must 
have surprised them sometimes to see how many poor peo- 
ple there were who needed help. Every town they came 
to there were some poor creatures waiting for him, either 
to cleanse them of leprosy, or open their eyes, or unstop 
their ears ; or there was some poor widow who wanted her 
child restored. And if he stopped a few days even in a 
lonely place, the crowds of people who came to him from 
around soon made it necessary for him to hide himself 
away from them. The disciples had seen all this — how he 
was thronged and pressed, and how impossible it was for 
him to reach all that needed him, and all who were long- 
ing to have him help them. They must have felt anxious 
sometimes to go out and do the same as he was doing, and 
tell the good news and heal the sick. 

Xow they are to have the chance to go out and preach 
Jesus, and cast out devils. He is going to make them his 
ambassadors, and send them on before him. They are to 
go out and tell the people "Jesus is come," and "the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand." 



112 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

But we do not read that they went out a great many 
times while Jesus was with them. Once or twice they 
went two and two, and came back and told him what they 
had found. 

Most of the time Jesus kept these disciples with him, so 
that he cojild teach them and show them the way. They 
went with him on his journeys ; they heard him preach in 
the synagogue and talk by the way-side ; they saw him 
heal the sick and raise the dead ; they saw him when he 
was arrested, and followed him a great way off, when he 
was crucified ; they saw him again after his resurrection, 
and heard his last words. Then when he was gone they 
became real apostles, and went everywhere telling the story 
of Jesus. They understood him now a great deal better 
than when he was with them. A great many things he 
said puzzled them before, but now it was all plain and 
clear. They knew now he came to save men from their 
sins, and they went everywhere telling about him. They 
became very bold, and were not afraid to preach Jesus 
among those who had crucified him. They were perse- 
cuted and put in prison, and driven away from home, but 
they kept right on doing as Jesus had told them. And 
some of them wrote out the story of Jesus, just as they 
had seen it and heard it, and left it for us to read. 

How glad we should have been to have Jesus call us up 
into that mountain, and appoint us to go out and tell his 
story. How glad we should be now, if he would come 
and put his hand on our head, and appoint us to go out 
and tell people he had come, and tell everybody that heaven 
was open, and God Avas waiting, and that they could every 
one of them come, and go into the kingdom, and be one 
of Christ's people. How glad we should be to have him 
select us out to do a work like this. 

Did you never think that he has given us just this work 
to do? We can tell the same storv Peter. and John told, 



THY KINGDOM COME. 113 

"of Jesus and his love." It is just as true and just as 
beautiful now as it was then, and it will help people jiiot as 
much, and save them just as quickly. And Jesus is with 
us just as much now as he was with them then. He has 
promised to be with every one that tries to do his work, 
clear down to the end of the world. We may all be his 
disciples, and he will give us all something to do for him. 



THY KINGDOM COME. 

By Rev. J. H. WILSON, M. A., Edinburgh. 

I have sometimes been asked to furnish an inscription 
for a Missionary Box, a motto in English or Latin, a text 
of Scripture, or some device of a more pictorial kind. 
What would you suggest for such a purpose ? W nat do 
you think would be suitable ? For what w^ould be ap- 
propriate for a missionary box should also furnish a text 
for a missionary sermon. I have heard of such a box with 
this inscription in large letters : 



'TIS BUTS!" 



The origin of it was this : The disposing of a large 
sum, such as a pound, a half sovereign, or a crown piece, 
would have required some thought. Such a sum would 
not have been thrown away on any trifle. But if it was 
only a sixpence, or a three-penny-piece, or a penny, or a 
halfpenny — most of all, if it was but a farthing — it did not 
matter much what was done with it. If it would buy an 



11-t SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

apple or a biscuit, or a few sweetmeats, it would have 
been thought or said, " ' Tis but a halfpenny or a penny," 
or whatever the coin might be. Well, instead of spend- 
ing them in any such way, a lady, who had been turning 
the matter over in her mind, resolved that all these little 
odd sums, which used to be spent to so little purpose — the 
difference in price between a more expensive article of 
dress or of food, and a cheaper one which served the turn 
equally well ; the cost of superfluous luxuries and such 
like — should go into the Box. Sometimes they were 
smaller, sometimes larger. \Yhenever "'twas but" a tri- 
fle that was to be spent on what was neither necessary nor 
useful, in it went ; and at the end of the year, all these 
9 Tis buts, when put together, amounted to a sum that as- 
tonished every body, and no one more than the owner of 
the box herself. The plan is worth being tried both by 
young and old, and any one who cares to have it, is wel- 
come to the use of the motto. 

Sometimes the inscription has been the text : " Freely 
ye have received, freely give !" Sometimes there is a 
wood-cut taken from the cover of a missionary magazine, 
and pasted on the front of the box : a man standing on 
the sea-shore, gazing wistfully across the sea, with out- 
stretched hands, crying, "Comb over and help us !" or 
a globe with the words over it, ''The field is the 
world !" or a little child on bended knee and with uplift- 
ed hands, praying, "Thy kingdom come! 1 ' This last 
missionary motto shall be our text to-day : 

"THY KINGDOM COME." 

Matthew 6. 10. 

He who is "our Father " is also a King. He has a 

kingdom, wears a crown of the Universe, wields the sceptre 

over all creation, has all living things subject to His rule. 

"The Lord reigneth !" now, always, everywhere. As the 



THY KINGDOM COME. 115 

God of Creation, as the God of Providence, He is King 
over all, and His kingdom is come already, so that in that 
sense we need not pray, "Thy kingdom come." Our 
text, however, does not refer to the kingdom of nature, 
but to the kingdom of grace. That has not fully come 
yet, though it will come, though it is coming. The com- 
ing of that kingdom will be, in itself and in its results, 
the grandest, most glorious of all the events that have ever 
been. To have anything to do with it, will be the highest 
of all honors. Eternity will be spent in celebrating it, and 
praising God for it. It will be the subject of heaven's 
song, and for nothing will any of us be so thankful, as for 
having, in any way, had to do with it. Should not you 
have a hand in this — sharing the work, the honor, the 
blessedness, as even the youngest of you may ? Thou- 
sands and tens of thousands repeat this prayer every day. 
Oh, if they only understood what they were saying, and 
prayed it and acted it out, what a power it would be, and 
what great things would come of it ! It is in hope of lead- 
ing to this, that I take it up now. 

This is a prayer which even children may offer. This is 
a matter Avith which even children have to do. In the 
war that not long since was raging on the continent of Eu- 
rope, the interest and the work were not confined to those 
who were grown up. Not only in the universities and 
among the students, but in the schools, and among the 
young people generally, there was not only enthusiasm, 
but effort. They all felt that they could do, and should 
be doing, something. The war-spirit seemed to have made 
its way into the very infant schools. The very infants 
were quite becoming little soldiers. "What could such 
children know about these things ?" you ask. Perhaps the 
best answer I can give, is to read to you an extract which 
I cut out of a newspaper at the time : " The energy, con- 
cord, and practical good sense shown by the Genoese 



116 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

ladies, in their labor of charity and patriotism, were mar- 
vellous. The first instalment of supplies for the wounded 
had been dispatched under the superintendence of sur- 
geons and their dressers. The chests contained bandages, 
compresses, lint, and shirts. They were forwarded to the 
central depot at Milan, and not a day too soon. Every 
class had vied in these offerings. Even the children of the 
infant schools had given up their money-allowance for 
fruit, and for some weeks had eaten dry bread at their 
noonday meal, and, with the money thus saved, had 
bought materials for their contributions." 

Shall the names of Italy's king and captains be house- 
hold words among the people ? Shall the children of Italy 
be familiar with the names of Garibaldi, and Victor 
Immanuel, and La Marmora, and Cialdini, and rise into 
enthusiasm at the very mention of them ? Shall they be 
interested in the movements of their armies, and talk 
among themselves of winning Venetia and Rome to the 
Italian crown, and shall our boys and girls take no interest 
in the coming of that Kingdom of Righteousness and 
Peace of which our text speaks ? Shall the mention of 
Jesus, our Leader and Captain, awaken no enthusiasm ? 
Shall his cause call forth no effort, no sacrifice and self- 
denial, no active service ? I am not going, meanwhile, to 
propose any movement akin to that among the schools of 
Italy ; I am not going to ask you to give your pence, to 
work for bazaars, to go forth as little missionaries of the 
cross, though I shall have something to say about that, 
too, before we have done. What we have now specially 
to do with, is the matter of prayer. Just think what a 
single family, or a school, or a Sabbath-school, might do, 
in the way not only of giving and working, but most of all, 
of praying. If it were honestly and earnestly gone about, 
if the heart were thrown into it, there is nothing in the 
way of result that would be too great to be looked for. 



THY KIXGDOM COME. 11 7 

Why, fifty praying boys would do more for this kingdom 
of God by their prayers, than a thousand Tyrolese rifle- 
men would have done for Austria in her time of need, 
though each of them had been so good a marksman that 
he could hit the bull's-eye at every shot, and pick off his 
man at a thousand yards without a single bullet missing. 
We do not want fighting of that kind, we want 'praying. 
Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world; if my 
kingdom were of this world, then would my servants 
fight." The kingdom of God is in the hearts of men. 
The weapons of our warfare are not guns and swords 
and rifles, but mainly the Word of God and prayer ; and if 
we have these faithfully used, we shall have all else that is 
needful. 

In this second petition of the Lord's Prayer, notice, 
I. The Prayer. II. Our duty in connection with it. 

I. The Prater: "Thy kingdom come!" What is 
implied in it \ Following the line indicated in our Shorter 
Catechism, there are these three things : — 1. The destroy- 
ing of the kingdom of Satan. 2. The advancing of the 
kingdom of grace. 3. The hastening of the kingdom of 
glory. 

1. The destroying of the kingdom of Satan. Satan, too, 
is a king — a mighty king — the head of a kingdom, with 
wide-spread dominion, and many subjects. He has large- 
ly to do with the world's sin. He has much to do with 
the world's misery. He is the great Tempter. It was he 
who first introduced sin, and tempted our first parents, and 
ruined our world. Try to fancy all the evil in one of our 
large cities, gathered together by itself, instead of being 
mixed up, as it is, with good. Fancy all bad men and 
women, and all bad children living apart by themselves ; 
the jails emptied of their inmates ; thieves and house- 
breakers and drunkards and disturbers of the peace, all at 



118 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

large ; all the wicked people that prowl about our streets left 
without restraint ; all those who have a fair outside, but 
are bad at heart, coming out in their true colors ; people, 
the very sight or hearing of whom makes you tremble, 
whom you would not meet in the dark, or be left alone 
with, for anything ; — think of all these being brought to- 
gether, with all who are like them in all parts of the coun- 
try, and throughout the world. Think of them as a peo- 
ple by themselves, all doing the worst they could, all 
pbeying One who was ever making them worse and more 
miserable — he, their king, the worst of all — plotting and 
fighting against all the rest of the world, and seeking its 
ruin. That would be a kind of picture of the kingdom of 
Satan. The destruction of that kingdom, and so the de- 
liverance and blessing of the world, would manifestly be a 
part of the coming of the kingdom of God. 

I have spoken of Italy. Xot long since, that country 
was divided into a number of petty kingdoms and states. 
In some of these the people were groaning under the yoke 
of their oppressors. Their prisons were loathsome and fil- 
thy dungeons, filled with miserable prisoners, who were 
there for what, in this country, would not have been ac- 
counted crime at all. For having a Bible or tract in their 
possession ; for getting it out of its hiding-place at dead of 
night, and gathering a few neighbors together to hear it 
read ; for telling about Jesus and the way of salvation, they 
were imprisoned and banished. Don't you think, when 
they heard the tidings of Garibaldi's wonderful exploits, 
and of what he and his band of brave red-jackets were 
bent upon doing for the whole country, as they listened to 
the distant bugle-sound, and then to the crack of musketry 
closer at hand, as they heard it coming nearer and nearer, 
oh, don't you think they would devoutly pray " Thy king- 
dom come," as they thought of the approach of one who 
would give them civil and religious liberty, who would 



THY KINGDOM COME. 119 

break off the fetters from the prisoner and open the prison 
doors, and bring the reign of terror to an end ? 

During the Indian mutiny, when our countrymen were 
hemmed in on all sides by blood-thirsty rebels, who had 
been guilty of the most dreadful atrocities, and were wait- 
ing, like beasts of prey, ready to rush in whenever an open- 
ing was made, and subject their victims to what was worse 
than death — how they longed for the coming of the Brit- 
ish soldiers, to break the power of the enemy, and bring 
to a speedy close his brief but dreadful supremacy ! Had 
the mutineers got their will, we can hardly think what 
might have been — how women and little children would 
have been mercilessly tortured and slain, and brave men 
would have died a lingering and shameful death. Oh, how 
their hearts yearned for the quiet and safety of their far- 
off home ; and as they went back, in thought, to the land 
of their birth, how earnestly they sighed, ' ' Thy kingdom 
come !" And when at last there was the sound of distant 
bagpipes, telling that Sir Colin Campbell and his brave 
Highlanders were coming to the rescue, and their colors at 
length appeared flying in the wind, and the boom of can- 
non fell upon the ear, who shall ever tell how welcome it 
was, and how they wept for joy, as the restoration of 
British rule saved them from the hands of cruel foes ? 

We sometimes hear of villages in other lands being kept 
in constant terror by some tiger or other beast of prey 
making constant inroads upon the people — now carrying off 
a lamb and now a child, till mourning mothers are counted 
by scores. They send for help against the invader, and 
even to them it is the "coming of the kingdom" in a 
blessed sense, when, through the help of those whose help 
they sought, they see their assailant lying dead on the 
ground, his power effectually destroyed. 

Now, akin to the coining of the deliverer in all these 
cases, is the coming of God's kingdom upon earth. The 



120 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

evil is unspeakably greater, and the deliverance more glori- 
ous, than in any of the cases to which we have referred. 
It was so great a work, that God was pleased to send His 
own Son for its accomplishment. Jesus himself testifies, 
" I came to destroy the works of the devil ;" and as, one 
after another, the enemy's strongholds are disappearing, 
there is ever new cause for thanksgiving. "Sing ye to 
the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously ! The snare is 
broken, and we are escaped !" The kingdom is coming — 
the kingdom of God on earth ! 

This petition asks the destroying of Satan's power (1.) 
in ourselves. We have more to do with this than many of 
us fancy. What a place and power evil has in us — diso- 
bedience, bad temper, quarrelsomeness, revenge, untruth- 
fulness, unholiness, indolence, pride, vanity, dishonesty, 
carelessness, dislike of prayer and the word and the things 
of God. All these are works of Satan. Jesus came, in 
the name of God, to destroy them ; and when the kiDgdom 
comes, they get their death-blow. Here is a boy who has 
come to feel that this proud, foolish temper of his will 
never do — or this deceitful, double way of dealing — or 
this indolent, self-indulgent spirit. He has seen his sin 
in the mirror of God's Word, and he hates and despises 
himself because of it. He desires to get quit of it, but 
what can he do ? for when he would give it up, he is like 
one of those animals which a serpent has twined itself 
round — he is like a bird caught in a snare — there is no get- 
ting away from it. What shall he do but cry for help to 
God, laying his heart open to Him, confessing the sin, 
looking to the one Deliverer, and saying — ay, more than 
saying, praying — "Thy kingdom come ?" 

This has not reference only to far-off lands — to the 
heathen and such like. It bears upon each of us. We 
cannot pray the prayer honestly and intelligently, without 
feeling that it comes home to ourselves, that it touches our 



THY KINGDOM COME. 121 

own sin, and asks deliverance from it, by the reigning of 
Jesus in the heart. I have heard of a boy saying that the 
Lord's Prayer did not suit him, and taking this instead, 
" O Lord, give me a new heart." Now this other prayer 
was all right. It is well to use words of our own, which 
we can understand, and which express what we feel and 
want — better far than merely to repeat the words of oth- 
ers. But beyond all question the heart is included in this 
petition ; and had the boy understood it aright, it would 
have served his turn to pray, "Thy kingdom come." 
How often we would need to use this prayer each of us for 
himself ! When provoked, and tempted to retaliate ; 
when proud of my dress, or looks, or talents ; when I 
know the right, and would do the wrong ; when I feel the 
power of sin strong within me ; when I have a desire to 
be other and better than I am ; when the old heart is a 
trial and a burden to me, and I would have it made new ; 
when I find that I must have Jesus not only as my Saviour, 
but as my Lord and Master, then this prayer entirely fits 
me — " Thy kingdom come !" It is pre-eminently a prayer 
for ourselves. 

(2.) It asks the destroying of Satan's power in others. 
"We must have a care for others as well as for ourselves. 
It is a bad sign when I am taken up about nobody but 
myself. Not that I am to be overlooking my own faults, 
and only seeing those of other people, but alike for their 
sins and sufferings I must have a care. Look for a little 
at some of these. 

[1.] Drunkenness, profanity, carelessness and crime at 
home. You cannot walk our streets on a Saturday night, 
or even on the holy Sabbath, without being reminded of 
Satan's power over men. What sin and suffering there is 
in connection with strong drink ! Some of you know it 
but too well. I have known one and another of our chil- 
dren laying their little hands tenderly on a father's arm, 



122 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

and with their dying breath pleading, "0 father, dinna 
drink !" and ere the funeral was over, that father had made 
himself worse than a brute. How often, as it was working 
such dreadful havoc, have you had the wish, " Would 
that I could do something to banish drink from the earth !" 
Perhaps a brother, or even a sister, was falling before it, 
and you could do nothing to prevent. All you could do 
was to pray "Thy kingdom come." In walking through 
the streets of the commercial metropolis in Scotland one 
evening, not long ago, a feeling of almost unbearable op- 
pression and despair came over me, as I saw such multi- 
tudes of people crowding into the brightly-lighted gin- 
palaces and theatres, bent on sinful enjoyment, and for- 
getting God. I could not stop them. But it was a relief, 
amid the feeling of loneliness and helplessness that crept 
over me, to pray, "Thy kingdom come." 

You have been pained and shocked at home, or else- 
where, to hear God's name taken in vain. It was some 
rough man, or some regardless boy, who was guilty of it — 
perhaps even your own father or mother. To have said a 
single word, in the way of reproof, might only have made 
matters worse — would almost have been as much as your 
life was worth. You could but silently pray, " Thy king- 
dom come." You have been saddened, on the Lord's day, 
to see so little care for God's ordinances ; so many wan- 
dering idly about the streets or the fields, throwing away, 
as of no value, the day God had specially given to them to 
prepare for eternity, and to secure an interest in Christ ; 
and you wonder how they can ever hope to go to heaven 
who have no care for God here. The crowds of careless 
children, who never think of God at all, and whose only 
pleasure seems to be in trying to keep back those who 
would do better than themselves — what can you do for 
many of them but pray this prayer: "Thy kingdom 
come ?" And then, when you think how much there is of 



THY KINGDOM COME. 123 

actual crime — one prison which I know having seven hun- 
dred inmates, many criminals being mere children, with 
many preparing to take the places of these, and following 
fast in their footsteps, in spite of all that ragged schools 
and reformatories are doing ; — when you think of this, 
which you cannot but sometimes do, and the feeling of 
helplessness and hopelessness comes over your young 
hearts, can you not, must you not, pray, ' ' Thy kingdom 
come ?" It bears upon all these. 

[2.] Slavery and oppression. This evil is not now what 
it was once. But in many parts of the world it still exists. 
You have read, with pain and indignation, of the catching 
of slaves in Africa — the hunting of slaves — the selling of 
slaves — the flogging of slaves — the killing of slaves. Many 
parts of the earth are still full of the habitations of horrid 
cruelty in this way. How shall the evil be stopped ? How 
can you help to put it down ? In what words shall you 
pray about it, as the only thing that directly you can do ? 
How better than, as you think of the slave, in these words, 
" Thy kingdom come" ? Thank God, slavery has ceased 
on British soil ! Thank God, slavery has marvellously 
ceased in America ! Do you ask how it was brought 
about ? I believe more by prayer than in any other way. 
God did it, in answer to prayer. So with oppressed na- 
tions and peoples, in different parts of the world, of whom 
you have read, in whom you feel interested, whom you 
would like to help, if you could. Some are groaning 
under a priestly, and some under a kingly despotism, and 
there seems no human power that can help them. Is it 
not a comfort to think that God can help them, and that 
you can help, by praying for them, " Thy kingdom come ?" 

(3.) War. Is it not strange that men should take such 
delight in murdering each other ? When a man is drown- 
ing, or in danger, or dying otherwise, what efforts are 
made to save him ! Have you ever been present when a 



124 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

house was on fire, or a ship was in danger of being driven 
on the rocks, or a boiler had burst, or a railway accident 
had occurred ? What excitement — what breathless anxiety 
there was. Thousands of people would do almost anything 
to save one human life. But when once the sword is 
drawn, men become like tigers, which, when once they 
have lapped blood, are said never to lose the desire for it 
again. The whole history of warfare is a sad and terrible 
one. The records of the great battles of ancient and 
modern times — such a story as that of the famous Retreat 
of the French from Moscow — these give some idea of the 
magnitude of the evil. Some of you remember our own 
Crimean and Indian wars, when so many thousands of the 
flower of our countrymen fell. You have read of the 
American war, with all the bravery and beneficence which 
it called forth, with its never-to-be-forgotten "Christian 
Commission," and its untold sufferings. And any day, all 
Europe may again be in a blaze. It may seem a fine thing 
fighting — to some — in the distance. But near at hand, it 
is awful. The sufferings of the sick, the wounded, the 
dying, the anguish of friends, the desolation of widows 
and orphans, who shall describe them ? There are, in- 
deed, as there have always been, many noble Christians 
among our officers and soldiers — Hedley Yicars, Sir Henry 
Havelock, and many more like them. It may be said, 
that as things are, war is necessary. The best that can be 
said of it is, that it is a necessary evil ; and while it con- 
tinues, we must have armies and navies, which may prevent 
war, as well as carry it on. It is not of God, though God 
permits it, uses it, overrules it for good. It is of Satan. 
It belongs to the kingdom of Satan ; for the kingdom of 
God is peace. Christ is emphatically the Prince of Peace. 
Perhaps you ask, " Can I help to stop it \ Could I send 
a message to kings, and emperors, and statesmen, implor- 
ing them not to fight ?" No ; but you can do better : you 



THY KINGDOM COME. 125 

can send a message to God: "Thy kingdom come" — 
which is peace. Then men " shall beat their swords into 
plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks : nation 
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they 
learn war any more." 

(4.) Error and Superstition. I have chiefly in view 
here, the gigantic systems of Popery and Mahometanism, 
which have cast their dark shadow over many beautiful 
lands — in Europe, Asia, South America, and other parts of 
the world. I have no doubt there are goodly people in 
the Church of Rome, but in the case of how many is their 
whole religion superstition ! Think of poor Ireland, with 
its endless troubles, all very much the result of this. 
Think of the thousands in many of our English and Scot- 
tish towns, whom no missionary can visit, who will not 
receive a tract or hear the Bible read, who would tear or 
burn either, for whom less can be done than for the very 
heathen. 

A year ago, in popish Austria, I saw those whom, in 
spite of their defective views and superstitious observances, 
one could not but regard as devout worshippers. By the 
wayside, I saw touching memorials of what one hoped might 
be a true faith in and love to the Lord Jesus Christ, with 
such inscriptions as these : " In the cross is our salvation !" 
" In him alone is salvation !" "Praised be Jesus Christ 
forever !" But I did not see the Bible in the hands of the 
people, as in our own land. The Virgin Mary, saints, an- 
gels, sacraments, and priests, seemed to get much of the 
trust and homage of which Jesus himself alone is worthy. 
In many quarters, foolish legends and stories are implicitly 
believed. Relics are worshiped — such things as a thorn, 
alleged to be from Christ's crown of thorns ; a bit of 
wood from the true cross ; a tooth or bone of some depart- 
ed saint. And even in our own land there are things not 
much better. In visiting Ireland a year or two ago, the 



126 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

friend who accompanied me was asked to purchase, at the 
door of a church, and did purchase, for a few pence, a 
kind of amulet, in the form of a piece of cloth, bearing the 
initals I. H. S., (fee, and intended to be suspended from 
the neck by a ribbon ; its great recommendation being 
that, having been blessed by the bishop, it had the power 
of protecting against disease, drowning, fire, <fec. ; all 
which was testified to, and surely believed in, by one and 
another to whom it was afterwards shown. I could not 
but hope, in seeing Romish worship conducted in different 
parts of Europe, that among the young priests, and their 
still younger attendants, there might be raised up another 
Luther, who should again lead forth an elect people out of 
that corrupt church. It was a joy to have the prayer to 
offer, "Thy kingdom come." 

(5.) Judaism — the religion of the Jew. Though divine 
in its origin, even that, in so far as it rejects the one Sav- 
iour, and does dishonor to God's beloved Son, as the one 
way of salvation, is now part of that kingdom which must 
pass away. There are thousands upon thousands of Jews 
scattered all over the world, whose bitter hatred to the 
Lord Jesus is something wonderful — shared in, as it is, by 
the very children. I have been in a pulpit at Amsterdam, 
which, one Sabbath, a few years ago, while a minister was 
preaching the Gospel, you might have seen entered by a 
Jewish boy, who rushed up the pulpit stairs, opened the 
door, and plunged a dagger into the preacher, for no other 
reason than that he was a Jewish missionary, and preached 
Christ and him crucified. And yet the Jews should still 
be " beloved for the fathers' sakes ;" as the seed of Abra- 
ham, God's friend ; as "the people of whom, as concern- 
ing the flesh, Christ came." It will be a glorious era 
when the outcast Jew is gathered into the church of Christ, 
and the prayer is answered, even as regards him, "Thy 
kingdom come." 



THY KINGDOM COME. 127 

(6.) Heathenism. The careless and vicious at home arc 
in a sad enough state, still they have a chance to learn the 
way of salvation through a crucified Saviour. But the 
heathen abroad are perishing by the million for lack of 
knowledge — in India, in China, in Africa. Look at the 
worship of false gods. In India, with its teeming myriads, 
there are said to be three gods to each person. A friend 
writes to me, that she has seen the natives take up a stone 
from the road, make a few red marks on it — for eyes, nose, 
and mouth — and then set it up and worship it. Think of 
the destruction of children in India formerly and in China 
still. Think of the ignorance and degradation of the 
women and girls. Think of their horrid rites, and of their 
unholy lives. What a kingdom of evil ! Oh, that it 
might be removed ! Oh, that loe might help ! How can 
we \ This is peculiarly a prayer which we may offer for 
such, " Thy kingdom come. 1 ' 

(7.) Division among the professed friends of Christ. 
" By this," said Jesus, "shall all men know that ye are 
my disciples, if ye love one another." "He that loveth 
not, knoweth not God ; for God is love." What a power 
the church would be in the world, and what great things 
it would do for Christ, if it were more united. Union is 
strength. Satan knows this well ; and hence his motto, as 
regards Christian men and Christian churches, is, " Divide, 
and conquer !" How this evil hinders the coming of 
God's kingdom, both at home and abroad. You remem- 
ber that beautiful prophecy in Isaiah : ' ' The wolf also 
shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down 
with the kid ; and the calf, and the young lion, and the 
fatling together : they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my 
holy mountain." "The Jews," says one, "interpreting 
these sayings to signify the concord and peace that shall 
be among the people that shall own the Messiah, do from 
hence conclude that the Messiah is not yet come, because of 



128 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

the contentions and divisions that are among those that 
profess him." 

John Bunyan, whose " Pilgrim's Progress" you know so 
well, pours out his heart in deepest sorrow, because the 
Avork of God is so sadly hindered by the want of love and 
unity among professing Christians. ' ' Peace is to Christ- 
ians," he says, "as great rivers are to some cities, which 
(besides other benefits and commodities) are natural forti- 
fications, by reason whereof these places are made impreg- 
nable ; but when, by the subtilty of an adversary, or the 
folly of the citizens, these waters come to be divided into 
little petty rivulets, how soon are they assailed and taken ! 
Thus it fares with churches. When once the devil or their 
own folly divides them, they will be so far from resisting 
him, that they will be soon subjected by him. Peace is to 
churches, as walls to a city ; nay, unity hath defended 
cities that had no Avails. It Avas once demanded of Agesi- 
laus, why Lacedaemon had no Avails ; he answered (pointing 
back to the city), that " the concord of the citizens Avas the 
strength of the city." 

What should Ave think of the different divisions of an 
army fighting against each other, instead of all uniting 
against the common foe ? Should Ave ever expect victory 
to crown such Avarfare ? And yet that is just what Chris- 
tians do. Surely Ave do Avell to pray for a spirit of unity 
and love. Surely we do Avell to pray for the coming back 
of those happy days when it used to be said by the 
heathen, that, "though the Christians had many bodies, 
they had but one soul ." "Behold these Christians, Iioav 
they love one another !" And this we pray for in the pe- 
tition, "Thy kingdom come." 

It may seem as though some of these matters were 
rather out of your way ; and yet Avhy should Ave not all, 
young and old, be concerned about everything connected 



THREE WORDS FROM THE LILIES. 129 

with the coming of God's kingdom, and do all we can to 
hasten it on ? 



Bible Link— The Sermon on the Mount— Matthew 5 ; 6 ; 7 ; Luke 
6. 20-49. 



THREE WORDS FROM THE LILIES.* 

By Rev. WILLIAM BURNET WRIGHT. 

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. — Mat. 6. 28. 

There are three virtues which Jesus was endeavoring to 
teach when he told his disciples to consider the lilies. They 
are contentment, obedience, humility. 

1. Flowers are not only very beautiful, but they always 
seem contented and glad. Did you ever think how little 
they have to make them so ? They live on other people's 
leavings. The air gives them only what finer folks reject 
and call poison. When the birds and beasts have taken 
from the atmosphere all they want, the flowers, like poor 
Lazarus, desire what is left — the crumbs that fall from the 
rich man's table. Then, too, if there is any dreadful filth 
from the sewers or the barn-yard, that men do not know 
how else to be rid of, they give it to the flowers ; just as I 
have seen certain children send ragged clothes and broken 
toys to the Christmas poor-box. But the flowers are grate- 
ful, and though they cannot talk they blush with gratitude, 
pink or blue or yellow or white. Then the poor flower 
folks, out of these odds and ends that nobody else will 
have, make such splendid clothes for themselves as King 
Solomon could not get, though he had first choice of every- 
thing, and all the weavers and tailors and jewelers in the 
world to dress him. 

* From The Christian Union. 



130 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Once there was a toy chariot in a shop window. It had 
two horses, a driver, and four people inside. It went by 
springs, and when it moved the horses pranced, the driver 
cracked his whip, and the people inside craned their necks 
to see what was the matter. There was a certain boy who 
thought he would be perfectly happy if he only had that 
chariot. He longed for it, and talked about nothing else 
for weeks. At last Christmas came, and some one gave 
him a brown paper parcel, tied with a long piece of pack- 
thread. It was the coveted chariot. The boy danced with 
delight as he tore open the paper and tossed the thread 
away. Wise auntie picked up the string from the floor 
and said, ' ' May I have this ?" 

Not many evenings after, this boy was asking for some- 
thing to play with. " Why don't you get your chariot ?" 
" Oh, I'm sick and tired of that !" he replied. Then wise 
auntie took out of her bag the piece of pack-thread which 
he had flung away. She taught the owner of the chariot 
to play cat's-cradle with it. She told him the names of 
the figures as they appeared — triangles and parallelograms 
and squares. She taught him how to bring out new figures. 
Many a long winter evening seemed short to them both as 
they played with that string. The boy never seemed to 
tire of it, and many a lesson he learned with delight from 
it that helped him at school, and on the playground too. 
But the most important was, that an old string well used 
could give a hundred-fold more pleasure than even a gilded 
chariot that all the boys coveted, that could only be looked 
at. 

My boy had a beautiful Chinese top which spun itself. 
He grew tired of it in a few days. But for three seasons 
he has been happy with an old peg top that cost five cents, 
but which nobody can spin without a great deal of prac- 
tice. I never knew a girl kept happy very long by a silk 
dress, made at the mantuamaker's, but to make one of 



THREE WORDS FROM THE LILIES. 131 

calico with her own hands will give her real and permanent 
joy. Some of you may be studying geometry. It often 
seems tedious and stupid. That everlasting A, B, C=X, 
Y, Z, and two parallel lines between two other parallel 
lines are equal, etc. What if they are ? Who cares ? 
I'd rather fly my kite. 

That is because you keep on trying to gain more knowl- 
edge without getting the good out of the knowledge you 
have. Go into the yard. Take a shingle, a short string, 
a lead pencil and a yard-stick. Find out with these the 
distance between the back door sill and the top of the next 
house. When you have succeeded, you will enjoy geome- 
try ; you will understand that we could have no railroads, 
nor bridges, nor Atlantic cables, and could never learn how 
far it is to anywhere much beyond the ends of our noses 
if it were not for those stupid triangles and parallelograms. 

Sometimes the Sunday-school lessons and even the ser- 
mons grow tedious, especially in summer. You get tired of 
hearing, " Blessed are the merciful. 1 ' That, too, is because 
you dont use what you know. Carry that knowledge about 
mercy somewhere and use it. Try to be merciful in collect- 
ing beetles and butterflies. Try to catch trout without 
hurting them — you cannot do it with worms, but you can 
with a fly — and you will begin to enjoy the sermons. 

So the first lesson in contentment is to get all the good 
out of things you have, before you wish for more things. 

Flowers have no wings and no feet. They must stay in 
one place. Therefore they never do anything which they 
cannot do at home. 

I will tell you a parable. A boy lived in the country. 
He was happy as the day was long. He played in the 
fields. He ran home at dinner and supper time, and told 
his mother everything he saw and everything he did. But 
one day he overheard the beasts talking together. The 
horses stood under a shady tree watching him, and he 



132 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

thought they said, " Poor boy, he has only two feet ; how 
tired he must get !" But one old circus horse, which had 
baen turned out to die, said, "Oh, no! He has four 
feet, but his mother whips him if he don't walk on his 
hind legs ! I know how to pity him !" 

While he listened, somehow the boy began to feel 
ashamed. So he got down on his hands and knees, and 
tried to walk that way. He was very tired when he reached 
home. But though his mother asked him how his trousers 
got so muddy and torn, he only hung his head and would 
not tell. 

One evening he was quite late from going on all fours. 
The bats w T ere flitting about, and he heard them saying, 
' ' Poor boy, he has to spend the best part of the time in 
bed. At night, when it is so splendid to be out, he has to 
be shut up." The next day he heard the crows, that steal 
corn and eat carrion, cawing, * ' Poor boy, he has to eat 
cooked corn and tough fresh meat ! How his jaws must 
ache !" Thus he began to pity himself, and think he was 
very wretched, and that his mother meant to make him 
miserable. So he staid out nights and ate carrion. He 
grew peaked from never walking upright, and from getting 
scared so often in the darkness, and from the dreadful car- 
rion which he smoked and chewed and drank ; but when 
his mother asked what ailed him, he would not tell. He 
went to the owl about it, who looked so wise. She said 
his trouble all came of too much sunlight, and he must put 
out his eyes, or he would never be any better. So he put 
out his eyes. He came no more to church or Sunday- 
school. He could not see to find his mother, even if he 
had wanted to. He was seen last Sunday in a dram-shop. 
I don't know where he is now, but he is very forlorn. 

The flowers told him long ago, ' ' Never do anything you 
cannot do at home. Never do anything you are ashamed 



THREE WORDS FROM THE LILIES. 133 

to do at home." If a boy will stick to that, he will grow 
up like a flower, iuto a noble aud beautiful man. 

TV hen the Lord Jesus was asked to do wrong, he said, 
" I and mv Father are one." This was his way of saying 
" That is not the war they do at home ; therefore I cannot 
do so here." 

If boys use their feet to get away from home, they are 
worse off than the flowers which have no feet. But if 
they use them to carry their home wherever they go, they 
are far more blessed than the fairest flowers. The flowers 
have no tongues. I do not mean that you must not talk. 
God has given us tongues, and means us to use them. But 
let the silent beauty of the flowers teach us to do all the 
good we can, and make no fuss about it. Never be in a 
hurry to tell people you are Christians, but act so that they 
cannot help finding it out. 

Did you ever watch beans grow ? They come up as if 
they had been planted upside down. Each appears carrv- 
ing the seed on top of his stalk, as if they were afraid 
folks would not know they were beans, unless they told 
them immediately. But most flowers wait patiently and 
humbly to be known by their fruits. 

Sometimes boys get laughed at because they think they 
must tell everybody they are Christians. They talk about 
their piety, and never show it in any other way. But no 
boy gets laughed at for being a Christian : for being true, 
and brave, and kind, and humble, and pure, like the Lord 
Jesus. 

Consider the flowers, and see if you can read, with the 
help of this sermon, the words written on their leaves — 
"Contentment, obedience, humility." 



134 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



Bible Link— Jesus heals the Centurion's servant — Matt. 8. 1, 5-13 ; 
Luke 7. 1-10. A widow's dead son raised to life — Luke 7. 11-17. 
John the Baptizer seDds a message to Jesus— Matt. 11. 2-19 ; Luke 
7. 18-35 ; Matt. 11. 20-30. Jesus forgives a wicked woman— Luke 
7. 36-50. Jesus heals a demoniac— Matt. 9. 35 ; 12. 22-37 ; Mark 
6. 6 ; 3. 20-30 ; Luke 8. 1-3 ; 11. 14-23. Jesus rebukes the Scribes 
and Pharisees for seeking a sign — Matt. 12. 38-45 ; Luke 11. 16, 
29-36. Who are truly blessed— Luke 11. 27, 28. Who are Jesus' 
brothers ?— Matt. 12. 46-50 ; Mark 3. 31-35 ; Luke 8. 19-21. Jesus 
utters woes against Pharisees— Luke 11. 37-54. Jesus instructs 
his disciples and the people— Luke 12. 1-59 ; 13. 1-9. Parables or 
picture-stories — Matt. 13. 1-53 ; Mark 4. 1-25. 



PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 

Bt Rev. MARK GUY PEARSE, Mildway Park, Esg. 

A sower went out to sow his seed. — Luke 8. 5 ; (Mark 4. 
14-20). 

I know that you all love the country, with its forests 
and fields, its corn and flowers, its merry birds, and — often 
the finest and most beautiful of all — the great stretch of 
blue sky and fleecy clouds. Everybody enjoys a stroll 
through the fields. 

But before we get to the fields, I should like you to 
notice Who spoke this text. It was Jesus Christ. And 
notice, too, from what sort of a pulpit it was spoken. 
There have been some very good sermons preached from 
very strange pulpits. Years ago, when our grandfathers 
and great-grandfathers were fighting the French, there was 
a good Methodist preacher named John Nelson. He went 
on his way preaching till he got as far as Adwalton. 
There they took him, and would force him to go away as a 



THE SOWER. 135 

soldier ; so they put hiin in prison until they could send 
him to the wars. But the good people wanted to hear him 
preach, and they came round the jail, and longed to get at 
the preacher who was inside the great stone wall. How- 
ever, he spied a little iron grating in the corner of his 
prison, where the daylight came in ; and laying hold of 
the bars, he pulled himself up, and called through it to the 
people outside. He was soon heard, and a crowd quickly 
gathered. " John Nelson is preaching I" they cried on all 
sides. The magistrates who had put him in prison heard 
of it. " He can't be preaching," they said ; " we have him 
safe enough in jail." Having sent to see, they found that 
it was so. John Nelson had made a pulpit of the prison 
wall, and a mouthpiece of the grating, and was preaching 
to the hundreds that had gathered outside. 

But Jesus had a much more beautiful place than that. 
It was on a lake. If you will look on a map of the Bible 
land, you will see a place named the Lake of Galilee. On 
one side of this lake there was a gentle slope, dotted with 
little towns and covered with rich gardens, full of citrons 
and dates and luscious fruits, and fringed down to the 
water's edge with bright flowers. This was the side on 
which Jesus stood ; the other side was rough and rugged, 
with wild rocks, where the G-adarenes lived. The people 
in these villages lived chiefly by fishing ; and you may pic- 
ture the white or brown sails reflected in the blue waters, 
and the nets lying along the shore ; and scores of boats 
following Jesus as he went from place to place. The peo- 
ple sat down on the grass, and he went into a boat, and 
there preached his sermon. The great blue sky was the 
roof, and the pleasant shore made the walls, and the blue 
water was the floor of that " temple not made with hands." 
The boat was the pulpit, and as the water lapped against 
the side of it, with all the people listening eagerly, Jesus 
told how "A sower went forth to sow." Everybody there 



136 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

had often seen it — the man taking the basket on his arm 
and going on his way, flinging the seed over the ploughed 
field. As he went along, some fell on the way side, and 
the people trod on it, and the busy birds ate it ; some fell 
on the stones, and was scorched ; some fell among the 
thorns, and was choked ; and some fell on good ground, 
and sprung up and brought forth fruit. 

The seed is the Word of God — the lessons you learn 
from the Bible ; and those who teach are the sowers. But 
what are the fields? Well, you are the fields. 

And now for our stroll. We go out across the farm- 
yard, and through the gate, and here is the first field — 

THE HARD FIELD. 

" Ah," says the farmer, with a sigh, " I can do nothing 
with this field, the ground is so hard ;" and as he strikes it 
with his stick, it rings as if it were a stone. " And yet 
you don't know what trouble I have taken with it. It is 
so hard that I can get nothing into it : more like a road 
than a field." 

Ah, boys and girls, I think you know that field. In 
the Sunday-school, and in the house of God, and in the 
home, I have often seen that field. Lesson after lesson is 
sown, and all sorts of good seed, but nothing seems to go 
in. The love of God, the story of Jesus, the wickedness 
of sin, all seems to be lost. The heart is so dreadfully 
hard, that no seed can get under the surface. 

This is very sad. ' ' Will it always be so hard, farmer ?" 
you ask, wondering. And now listen to what the farmer 
says : " Xo, no ; I hope not. You remember what David 
says in the sixty -fifth Psalm — Thou makest it soft with 
showers. Only the rain from heaven can loosen the hard- 
baked earth, and open the ground so that the seed can get 
in and live. We must ask our Father in heaven to send 
that." So there is a cure for the hard field of our hearts. 



THE SOWER. 137 

He will send upon, us his Holy Spirit, then the hardness is 
• gone. The hard field becomes the good ground, and brings 
forth much fruit. 

Leaving this field, we pass on until we come to a gate, 
and stop to look at the next field. " Xow," 1 says the 
farmer, • ' this is my 

WEEDY FIELD.'' 

There is no mistake about that ; weedy enough, indeed. 
As we come along by the hedge, our finger is stung by a 
tall nettle ; and as we get out of the way of that, we are 
pricked by a sharp-leaved fellow with his gay red cap on 
his head — this thistle. But they are not all such disagree- 
able weeds as these. There is a patch of yellow charlock, 
and the pretty wild convolvulus, and the scarlet poppy, and 
many other flowers. Yet they are all weeds. They have 
no business there, and they prevent the good seed from 
coming up. 

' ' You would scarcely believe how much seed I have put 
into this field," the farmer tells us. " And now look at 
it ! ^Vhy, if I had never sown a grain it could scarcely 
have been worse." 

Ah ! who does not know the weedy fields ? Boys and 
girls who have been caref ally taught and anxiously looked 
after, and yet there came nothing but weeds. These boys 
with the good seed sown in them, began to quarrel after- 
wards ; so there came nettles and thorns, instead of good 
fruit. This girl has the good seed in her heart, but she 
begins to think unkind thoughts, and perhaps to say spite- 
ful things ; so comes a prickly thistle instead of good seed. 

And these flowers — they were weeds because they were 
in the wrong place. Yery good in a garden, but here, 
where they choked much good seed, they were very bad. 
Laughing is a good thing, but laughing in the wrong place 
is a weed. Talking is a good thing, and nothing is more 
foolish than to think that children should be seen and not 



138 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

heard. If God has given you ears and a tongue — two ears 
and one tongue, remember — he does not intend you to be 
deaf and dumb. But talking in the wrong place helps to 
fill up the weedy field. 

But notice as we pass along that there is one part of the 
field that is quite clean. The corn is pushing up and all is 
promising a plentiful crop. We ask how this is. Listen 
to the farmer's answer. " I sent for as many boys and 
girls as I could get, and they came, and got on their knees, 
and pulled up the weeds, and cleared the ground. So there 
I shall have some good fruit." 

So, boys and girls, let us set to work pulling up weeds. 
Remember that we can't do much unless we get on our 
knees for it. We must ask God to help us, and He will. 
Let us get rid of the weeds — these nettles and thistles of ill 
temper ; the inattention, and the forgetting, and the things 
that come in the wrong place — try to pull them up. I 
knew a little girl who was a very angry and passionate lit- 
tle maiden. Her mother said to her one day, ' ' Mary Jane, 
I have been thinking how dreadful it will be for everybody 
when you are a woman. What a passionate, ill-tempered 
woman you will make." Mary Jane had not thought of 
that. True she was a passionate girl, but she thought that 
somehow she would be sure to grow up into a very kind 
and gentle woman, like her mother. She looked up rather 
frightened. Then her mother showed her how this dread- 
ful prickly weed would grow and grow every day, until it 
was too strong to be pulled up. So the little maiden be- 
gan to pray for help. She pulled at the weed, and kept 
pulling at it whenever it came again ; and now she is the 
very gentlest woman that I know. We can clear the weedy 
field ; but this must be your prayer, ' ' Create in me a clean 
heart, God!" 

Passing from that field, the farmer says in a low whis- 
per, " Now if you go quietly, and cross this lane, and up 



THE SOWER. 139 

the bank to the next gate, you will see a strange sight. 
This is 

THE BIRD FIELD." 

Directly our heads appear, up fly all sorts of birds. 
There are swift wood-pigeons, that go flying into the dis- 
tance ; there are lazy rooks, wheeling into the air, and flap- 
ping out of danger with a " caw," " caw," as much as to 
say, " AVe are not caught yet." The blackbirds fly scream- 
ing into the hedge, and little birds rise up from the field in 
a cloud. 

And whilst we lean over the gate listening to the merry 
lark, we can't help thinking that we know many fields just 
as badly ofT as this. How many boys and girls there are 
in whom all the good seed is eaten up by the fowls of the 
air ; and who does not know the names of many of these 
birds? 

A busy bold little bird that steals much good seed on all 
sides, is called Inattention. Then there is the chattering 
Magpie, a great thief ; busy whispering here and there, 
and humming and buzzing ; a very destructive bird is this. 

Then there is another bird that is almost worse than 
these. He steals very much more good seed, and spoils as 
much as he steals. Can you guess his name ? He never 
sings. He hears the others singing on the other side of 
the hedge sometimes, but he himself is as dumb as the bat — 
it is Always late, who doesn't come in time for the hymn. 

There is one bird more that I have found in Sunday- 
schools. In some places he is so much disliked that they 
keep people to go round and kill him, wherever they can 
find him, He keeps the field from getting any good seed 
at all. His name is Absent. Take care, and never let him 
come near you. 

One day as I was going through the fields I met a little 
sharp-eyed fellow standing by the stile as if he were very 
glad to see anybody in that lonely place. In his hands he 



140 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

held two pieces of stick that he kept knocking together 
with a loud noise. " Click-clack, click-clack," went 
the little fellow. " What are you doing, my boy ?" I 
asked. He was making such a noise that he could not hear 
what I said. He stopped, and then I asked him again 
what he was doing that for. " Why, I'm scaring the birds, 
sir," he cried out. And as a rook settled at the end of the 
field he ran away after it with a click-clack, click-clack, 
that soon sent it flying. That is what we must all do. We 
must all scare away birds that eat the good seed. 

Now we have come to the last field. " Here," says the 
farmer, " is my bit of 

GOOD GROUND." 

We wonder that it is so different from the rest. But the 
farmer tells us how the rain from heaven softened it, and 
how they cleared the weeds and sowed the seed, and scared 
the birds ; and here now is this rich harvest. The seed 
fell into good ground, and brought forth much fruit. 

And now, dear children, thank God that we can all be 
good ground. God can take away the stone out of our 
hearts, and by his Holy Spirit he can create within us the 
good ground. Let us kneel down and ask our heavenly 
Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, to make us good ground. 
" The good ground are they which, in an honest and good 
heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth 
fruit with patience." 

" CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART, O GOD !" 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM. 141 



Bible Link— Parables— Mark 4. 26-34 ; Luke 8. 4r-ll. 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM. 

By T. B. BISHOP, of the Children's Special Service Mission 
of London. 

[Mark 6. 26-29.] 

I must take you to a scene in the land of Palestine. A 
poor man has come out of yonder village to sow his seed 
on these hills. You see no farms, nor fields, nor hedges, 
like we have in England, but only patches of cultivated 
ground scattered over the open country. The man is in 
great trouble, for he had very bad crops last year, and the 
wheat especially was nearly all spoilt by the blight and 
mildew. It is winter time now, and his family are begin- 
ning to feel the scarcity of food. The poor children have 
had nothing but barley bread to eat for a long time, and 
lately there has been very little of that ; and now he is 
obliged to take away some of the scanty stock of corn for 
seed. It is like taking the bread out of the children's 
mouths, and yet he can't help it. If he doesn't sow the 
fields, next year there will be no crop at all. No wonder 
he is very careful with it : he looks about anxiously, to 
put every handful into the best ground — every grain of it 
is precious. And so the man goes forth, "bearing pre- 
cious seed." But he sows in faith. He knows that God 
has promised that ' ' as long as the earth remaineth, seed 
time and harvest shall not fail ;" and though his work is 
rough and his lot is hard, and he is sowing now in trouble 
and sorrow, he looks forward to the time when the sum- 
mer shall return again, and the harvest shall come, and 



142 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

this seed shall bring forth a hundred-fold. He is sowing 
in tears now, but some day he will reap in joy. 

And now I must show you another picture. One Sun- 
day afternoon a teacher is on her way to the school. For 
a long time she has taught the girls in her class without 
much result, and some of them are still very giddy and 
thoughtless. But lately she has had a little encourage- 
ment : Ellen seemed a little more earnest last Sunday, and 
Martha said — when she met her in the week — that she 
was really trying to love the Saviour. She has been pray- 
ing very earnestly for them all to-day. The lesson is a 
beautiful one, and she has worked hard to prepare it ; and 
now she goes to the class full of hope that this afternoon a 
deep impression will be made. But, somehow, all seems 
to go wrong. Some of the girls do not come at all, and 
others come late and disturb the class very much. Ellen 
is absent, and it is said she has gone for a walk instead. 
Martha is come, but is not nearly so attentive as she was 
last Sunday, and some of the rest whisper and make her 
laugh. The teacher tries very hard and speaks very ear- 
nestly, but it is of no use. The girls are indifferent and 
careless, and she goes home nearly heart-broken ; and she 
sits down in her own room, and the tears come into her 
eyes as she opens her Bible for consolation. But present- 
ly she finds the words, " He that goeth forth and weepeth, 
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, 
bringing his sheaves with him." Yes, she is sowing in 
tears ; and her heart is cheered by this precious promise, 
for she believes that some day she will reap. 

THE SEED. 

All sowing is a work of faith. Here is a child in the 
garden putting a little round black thing into the ground. 
What can it be ? She tells me it will some day come up 
and be a beautiful flower. "What ! that little mite ? It is 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM. 143 

not like a flower in the least ; it has no beautiful colors, 
and is not at all the shape of a flower. And then it is so 
small, it will surely be lost in the earth, and you could 
never find it again. If you were to put in a ruby, now, 
or an emerald, or some other brilliant precious stone, you 
might expect it to turn into a splendid flower. But that 
tiny black speck, not so big as a pin's head ! isn't it quite 
absurd to suppose it will ever come to anything \ 

Ah ! but it is seed. The ruby and the emerald are only 
stones — they are dead things, and can never grow ; but the 
seed is alive. 

Several thousand years ago some Egyptian kings were 
buried in those costly and wonderful tombs of theirs, the 
Pyramids, and, wrapped up with their bodies, there were 
some seeds put into the coffins. Some of these were 
grains of wheat — wheat such as Pharaoh saw in his dreams, 
and Joseph gathered into barns — and there they slept as 
comfortably as could be till the other day the coffins were 
opened and several of the mummies were brought to Eng- 
land, and then these wheat corns were found. So some 
of them were planted in the earth, and sure enough a few 
months after they grew up, and those little seeds produced 
fine large ears of corn ! During all those thousand years, 
you see, they had not died. No : there is life in seed. 

Some years ago an old man died at the age of one hun- 
dred and sixteen. AYhen he was about sixteen, he heard 
a sermon that he never forgot. He did not think of it 
much at the time, and grew up without the fear of God, 
and lived a sinful life. But seventy-four years afterwards, 
when he was ninety years old, something brought to his 
mind the sermon that he had heard in his youth. It was 
fresh in his memory still, and he gave his heart to God, 
and for the twenty-six years more that he lived he was an 
earnest Christian. There was life in that seed, too. 

Seed is very strong. You plant a little seed, and it 



144 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

shoots upward ; and though it is only a tiny blade, and 
there are great clods of earth and stones in the way, yet it 
pushes past them all, and forces its way to the surface. 
An acorn was once dropped into the cleft of a rock. Now 
you might have hammered at that rock a good deal with- 
out being able to break it ; you might have put a crowbar 
in, and all your strength would not have split the rock in 
two. But the acorn grew ; a little sapling came up first, 
but year by year it grew stronger, and at last it became a 
stately oak, and it was so strong that the rock was burst 
apart. There was a little filbert, too, that fell into the 
hole of a millstone as it was lying on the ground, and it 
grew up through the hole and became a filbert tree, and by 
degrees it raised the heavy stone quite off the earth. You 
see there is strength in seed. 

God's Word is seed, and it is seed that is strong and 
powerful. It grows up sometimes in the sinner's hard 
heart, and his heart is broken and contrite ; and though Sa- 
tan does all he can to crush the seed, it grows upward 
still, and bears fruit to God's glory. 

And then the seed multiplies. You see the farmer taking 
out a sack of wheat to sow in his field : it is not much to 
cover such a large piece of ground, and it has to be drilled 
in carefully and made the best of. But go out again in 
August and see the field waving with yellow corn, and as 
the reapers come and gather in the heavy sheaves, you find 
that the sack of seed has multiplied. Each little grain has 
produced twenty or thirty more grains, and often in Pales- 
tine the increase is sixty or a hundred-fold. 

It is just the same with the Gospel seed. The seed that 
sprang up in Bethlehem shall wave over arctic snows and 
desert sands. " There shall be a handful of corn in the 
earth on the top of the mountains : the fruit thereof shall 
shake like Lebanon." 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM. 145 



THE SEED SPRINGING UP. 

This parable tells us something about seed, and how it 
grows in the earth. First of all, the farmer sows it. We 
saw that poor man just now throwing his seed hither and 
thither, but so carefully, lest any of it should be lost. 
But what can he do next ? It is out of his sight, but not 
out of his mind. It would be very interesting, no doubt, 
if he could watch the little grain, step by step, as it grows 
up — if he could see the skin burst and the tiny root peep 
out, and send its suckers downwards into the earth, and 
the infant blade begin at the same time to shoot upwards. 
But all this is hidden. He comes out now and then, and 
looks about anxiously to see if any corn is coming up, but 
he can't do anything. He would be a very foolish man to 
rake up the seed, to see how it was getting on. No ! there 
it must be left, covered up in the warm earth, while the 
farmer goes about his other work and waits in patience. 
"He sleeps and rises, night and day," and all the time 
the seed is growing up in secret ; but he cannot see it, and 
cannot know whether it is growing or not. 

Just like this the Gospel seed is buried, and the sower 
cannot see it. The minister cannot look into the hearer's 
heart : he will watch for the green blade, and rejoice like 
the husbandman when he sees the field covered with a car- 
pet of green, but meanwhile he must wait patiently. 

To be sure, there is something that the farmer can do 
after the seed is sown. Of course he will harrow the 
ground, and drain it, to let the wet off, and set a boy to 
keep the birds away. He will gather out the stones from 
the field, and pull up the weeds, and keep up the fences. 
He would be sure to stop anybody who came digging in 
his field now, or galloping over it. And so the minister 
may preach, and warn, and exhort again and again, but he 
can do no more. Neither of these sowers can make the 



146 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

seed grow ; and it does happen sometimes, after all their 
trouble and all their anxiety, that the crop turns out a fail- 
ure. 

FAILURE OF THE SEED. 

One day during the last hot summer we had, you might 
have seen Farmer Giles walking over his turnip field with a 
very long face. He had sown the seed in good time, and 
had manured the ground well, and he quite expected by 
this time to have had plenty of turnips for his sheep. 
But he is dreadfully disappointed : hardly any of the seeds 
have come up, and he is actually talking to his man about 
ploughing the field up again. What can be the meaning 
of it ? The fact is, turnips Avon't grow without plenty of 
moisture, and this has been a terribly dry season. The 
ground was good, and the seed was good, but there was no 
rain. 

Is there a Sunday-school where teachers have long been 
sowing seed, and sowing it carefully and faithfully, and 
yet nothing appears — not even a single green blade, much 
less ripe corn ? What is it that is wanting ? Can the 
seed be better than it is ? Can the sowers do more than 
they have done ? It wants now the fertilizing rain of 
God's Holy Spirit. 

Teachers and scholars, you must pray for this rain. " I 
will pour water upon him that is thirsty 1 ' (Tsa. 44. 3), is 
God's gracious promise. He tells you "there shall be 
showers of blessing" (Ezek. 34. 26), and this will only 
come in answer to prayer. Your heavenly Father will give 
the Holy Spirit to them that ask him (Luke 11. 13). 

THE SEED GROWING GRADUALLY. 

But the corn does not grow up all at once : it will come 
on gradually, one step at a time. "We are not to expect 
the ripe grain in a single day. There is " first the blade, 
then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM. 147 

A little girl has to learn a text for her teacher, and the 
teacher explains it to her. Perhaps it is, " Suffer little 
children to come unto me ;" or, ' ' I love them that love 
me, and those that seek me early shall find me." Here is 
the good seed. She goes home, and the seed lies still for a 
day or two. But teacher has been praying for her, and in 
answer to that prayer God sends his Holy Spirit to water 
the seed and make it grow in that little girl's heart. She 
could not tell you how it is, but presently something brings 
the text to her mind, and she begins to think : ' ' Jesus 
loves me — loves a little child " — and she prays that she 
may love Jesus too. Thus it is the seed begins to shoot. 
But next day come lessons, and play, and young compan- 
ions, and a host of things to take up her thoughts : the 
clods are in the way of the little plant. However, it still 
pushes its way on. She prays again, but she feels she is a 
sinner and wants to have forgiveness, and she prays very 
earnestly. And then there are fresh hindrances : some fa- 
vorite amusement comes in the way, or some temptation is 
yielded to ; the text is forgotten ; prayer is neglected — oh ! 
will the little plant ever grow up ? But then there are 
fresh tears and prayers ; there is real repentance for sin, 
and the little girl finds Jesus as her Saviour. And now 
she is happy ; and mother must know, and teacher must 
know that Jesus has really made her his ; and so the little 
tiny blade peeps above the ground : modestly and humbly 
it appears at first, but it cannot long remain unseen. 

"First, the blade." But this must not be all. The 
seed must not only come up, it must grow. If there is no 
growth, can there be any life ? At first you cannot tell 
the wheat from grass. That little blade is very pretty, 
but we are not quite sure yet whether it is true corn. 
The field looks beautiful and green, but these plants may, 
after all, turn out to be nothing but tares, or there may be 
a worm at the root that will kill them presently ; but if 



148 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

we wait and watch the seed, we shall soon know. By-and- 
by it will coine into ear. " By their fruits ye shall know 
them." 

When the fruit does come it is unripe at first. Some 
plants will be cheeked by blights, or cold winds, or storms, 
and will wither or be laid low, and so bear little corn. It 
is the same with the spiritual seed. Worldly companions, 
and business, and amusements, often hinder it. "We can- 
not tell whether the yield will be little or much, until it 
reaches the third stage, and we see the "full corn in the 
ear." 

THE SEED RIPENING. 

And what is it that ripens the seed ? Is it not the glo- 
rious summer sun ? A wet summer spoils the harvest, for 
when wheat is growing it cannot have too much sunshine. 
And it is when the plant of grace is freely exposed to the 
beams of the Sun of Righteousness that it quickly ripens 
for heaven. The Christian that lives much under the 
shining of God's countenance is the one that will bear 
much fruit. 

The green ears of corn are very upright, but as they 
gradually fill and ripen they begin to hang down. And so 
it is with the Christian : he gets humbler as he gets nearer 
heaven. At last the harvest comes, the reapers put in the 
sickle, and the corn is gathered in (Matt. 13. 30 ; Rev. 14. 
15) ; and the husbandman rests not until the last sheaf is 
safely housed, amid the glad cry of "Harvest home !" 
And so the Christian, like a shock of corn fully ripe, is 
gathered at length into the heavenly garner (Job 5. 26). 
Some there are who ripen for heaven in early life ; some 
seem to live always in the sunshine ; and we shall be saved 
from many a chilling blast, if we love to bask in the rays of 
the Sun of Righteousness. 

On a large farm you may often see the fields, as they 
stand thick with corn, divided by tall hedges, and some- 



r — — 




CHRIST STILLING THE TEMPEST. 149 

times separated by roads, or other fields. But at harvest 
time the grain is all taken to the same stack, and as the 
sheaves are mingled together there, you cannot tell which 
field they came from ; in fact, they must be very much 
puzzled themselves among so many strangers, who are just 
like their own brothers and sisters. It is just like this 
with the Church. Here below there are many sects and 
denominations, like so many fields divided by the hedges 
and walls of outward modes and forms ; but when the 
harvest comes all God's wheat shall be gathered into the 
garner, and there shall not be a single mark to show how 
widely it once grew apart. 

[From Guthrie, Arnot, Trench, and Bourdillon.'] 



i 



Bible Link— Jesus stills a storm on the sea— Matt. 8. 18-27 ; Mark 
4. 35-41 ; Luke 8. 22 ; 9. 57-62 ; 8. 22-25. 



CHRIST STILLING THE TEMPEST. 

[Mark 4. 35-41.] 
By Key. RICHARD CORDLET, Emporia, Kansas. 

Jesus had been teaching again by the sea-side. This sea 
of Galilee is a small sea, or more properly it is a lake, only a 
few miles wide. It is like a deep basin right in among the 
mountains. Storms often come up very suddenly. Some- 
times it will be all smooth and calm, and in a few minutes 
a squall will rise and sweep over it, and scatter the boats 
in all directions. 

Jesus had been teaching all day, and towards evening he 
wanted to get away from the crowd and have a little time 
to rest. This was a favorite way with him. AYhen the 



150 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

people found out where he was, they would throng about 
him so that he had no time for quiet, and he became very- 
tired often. Then he would tell his disciples to get a ship, 
and they would leave the place and sail over to some other 
part. There it would be some time before the crowd would 
find him again, and he would become rested and refreshed. 
This time he seems to be very weary. He had been teach- 
ing a long while, and perhaps healing a great many people. 
He was so very tired that as soon as they pushed off from 
land he lay down and went to sleep ; and he slept so sound- 
ly that when the storm came up it did not wake him. 

It was probably calm and quiet when they started, and 
they were expecting a pleasant trip in the cool night air. 
But when they were in the midst of the sea, one of those 
sudden squalls came up, and the waves ran right over the 
ship, and it was beginning to fill with water. The disci- 
ples became very much frightened, and thought they were 
all going to the bottom. They rushed about to find Jesus. 
He was still quietly sleeping in the stern of the ship, just 
as if it were a beautiful summer evening. He had not 
been disturbed at all by the storm, or the tossing of the 
boat, or the shouting of the frightened men. They awoke 
him in great haste, and begged him to help them, or they 
would all be drowned. 

He came out as undisturbed as ever. He showed no 
fear and no excitement, and only seemed surprised that 
they should be afraid. "Why are you afraid? Where 
is your faith ? Where is your confidence ?" For their sakes 
he spoke to the sea and to the storm, just as a father might 
speak to his noisy children, who were disturbing somebody. 
"Peace, be quiet," he says. And, like obedient children, 
the winds hush their tumult, and the waves drop down upon 
the sea, and become as peaceful as anything can be. 

Then they begin to be afraid in a different way. They 
begin to wonder what sort of a man this can be, who only 



CHRIST STILLING THE TEMPEST. 151 

lias to speak to the winds and have them hush ; and only 
has to beckon to the sea and have it become quiet. The 
winds and the waters do the Lord's bidding. He made 
them, and the;.' are his servants. A few years ago a young- 
lad in England wrote a poem, and it was so beautiful that 
it is now found in all our hymn books. The first verse 
reads : 

" The Lord our God is full of might, 
The winds obey His will. 
He speaks ; and in his heavenly height 
The rolling sun stands still." 

When Jesus was on earth, the sea and the storm, disease 
and death, all did as he said. All kinds of sickness went 
away at his touch, the winds became quiet when he spoke, 
and the grave of Lazarus opened at his word. However 
troubled men were, he could quiet them. And you know 
he was so quiet himself all the while. He is not disturbed 
by the storm, but quiets the winds and the waves because 
the disciples are afraid. There is a storm in their hearts, 
a storm of fright ; and he is a great deal more anxious about 
that than he is about the storm on the sea. He wants 
them to learn that they need not be afraid when he is with 
them, nor when they are doing as he has told. They are 
afraid of the storm, but he shows them that the storm obeys 
him, and cannot harm one of them without his permission. 
He wants to teach them to go right on and do their work, 
and feel sure that their Master will take care of them. 

Jesus is just the same now as he was then. He is in 
heaven, but he does not forget us here on earth. The 
winds and the waves obey him now just as much as they 
did then ; and he loves his children just as much as he ever 
did. If he is with us, we need none of us be afraid. But 
we may wonder how we are to find out whether he is with 
us or not. He is always with us when we are doing what 
he wants us to do. No matter how violent the storm, if 



152 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Jesus speak, it will be as harmless as an evening breeze ; 
no matter how loud the winds may blow, they will all be 
sull at his word ; no matter how high the waves may roll, 
Jesus can make the sea as calm and smooth as a looking- 
glass. And he never loses sight of any of his children. 
The disciples thought he had forgotten them, but he came 
the moment they needed him. If we are doing his work 
he will let nothing harm us. Some one has said, "Every 
one is safe till his work is done." We may say every man 
is safe so long as he is where Jesus wants him to be, and so 
long as he is doing what Jesus wants him to do. When 
he has finished his work Jesus will take him home. Caesar 
was once being rowed in a boat from one shore to another. 
A violent storm came up, and the boatman was very much 
frightened. Caesar cried out to him, " "What are you 
afraid of? You are carrying Caesar." Caesar thought he 
had a work to do, and the boat he was in would not sink 
while that work was unfinished. 

This was a heathen faith or impression without any foun- 
dation. We have a faith founded on sure truth. If we 
are the people of the Lord we are safe wherever he puts 
us. 

u By prayer let us wrestle, and He win perform ; 
With Christ in the vessel, we smile at the storm." 

And he can quiet the storm in our own hearts. When 
we are perplexed and do not know which way to turn, if 
we let him speak we shall be quiet, and everything will be 
clear. He never forgets us, even if we think he has left 
us sometimes. If we call to him, he will not keep us wait- 
ing in fear and danger, but will come and help us as soon 
as we need him. 



POWER OVER EVIL SPIRITS. 153 



Bible Line:— Jesus heals a demoniac — Matt. 8. 28-34; Mark 5. 
1-20 ; Luke 8. i 



POWER OYER EVIL SPIRITS. 

By Rev. GEORGE G. PHIPPS, Newton, Mass. 

And they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed 
with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, 
and in his right mind. — Mark 5. 15. 

Did you ever see an insane asylum, boys and girls ? It 
is a home for people that have become insane or crazy. 
That means that the mind is weak and sick, so that a man 
thinks and acts as if he did not really know what he was 
doing. 

Now this man whom Jesus healed, was much like a 
crazy man. An evil spirit had come into his mind, and 
his thoughts and actions all seemed insane. Nobody could 
safely live with him ; and he no longer loved any one, nor 
cared where he went, even though he had to live off among 
the tombs, where it was lonesome and frightful. It was 
something dreadful even to see him. All were afraid of 
him. But there were no insane asylums in that country, 
or I think he would have been carried into one, and locked 
up in a cell by himself, where he could do no harm. 

As it was, they had put chains on his hands and feet, so 
that he could do no mischief. But he had broken them 
of! again — snap went the chains, he was so wild and strong ! 

But Jesus met him one day. And Jesus did not fear the 
wild man either. But when he saw him, he said, " Come 
out of the man, thou unclean spirit.'''' And so the man was 
cured. He was no longer like a madman, frightful to 



154 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

see ; but he grew calm and sat quietly down at Jesus' feet 
to hear his words, and felt grateful and happy that Christ 
had had mercy upon him. 

Isn't it good to know that Jesus has such power over evil 
spirits \ The bad bad things in our hearts and lives he 
can wholly take away. 

Sometimes the spirit of cruelty gets into the heart ; for 
instance, Jerry and Sam once met two little girls just turn- 
ing down into a cross-street. " Take care !" said Jerry — 
making believe he was alarmed about something — " don't 
go down there, girls ! Don't you know there is a big bull- 
dog down there ? He'll bite you." 

The girls were very scared, just as cruel Jerry wanted 
to see them. One little girl said, and her lips quivered, 
" I want to go home to my mother." " Well you can't — 
that big dog !" Jerry said. Then he went along leaving 
the girls to cry, and saying, " I only wanted a little fun 
with them." 

Such " fun" is only what could please an evil spirit — 
giving pain and tears to innocent little children. And did 
you never see a boy or girl get so angry as to stamp and 
strike, or tear and break things, and act as if almost in- 
sane with being ' ' so mad " as you call it ? There is a 
whole troop of such bad spirits that get into the heart — 
their name is " Legion," as the wild man said. Don't let 
them come into you to stay, to make a home in your 
hearts, boys and girls. Ask Christ to use his wonderful 
power to cast all bad things off your lives. 

If Christ will only live in your hearts — and he will if you 
love him — evil spirits will not stay with you. They cannot 
stay where Jesus is, any more than darkness can stay where 
the sun shines in. Christ is like light. 

There is a bank in Boston, (Dorchester), that is pro- 
tected from thieves in the night, by keeping the gas-light 
always burning. Every one passing by the street can see 



JESUS BRINGING DEAD CHILDREN TO LIFE. 155 

through the large windows whatever is going on in the 
rooms in the bank. The police outside would know in a 
minute if any one walked across the floor, or went up to 
the safes in the night. So the light helps to keep the bank 
from robbers, as well as the heavy bolts and iron doors. 

Now keep the love of Jesus shining brightly in your 
hearts all the time, and bad wicked things, such as cruelty 
and unkindness, lying, disobedience, cheating, and quar- 
reling, and being ugly and cross, like thieves and wicked 
spirits, will be quite driven away from your lives and char- 
acters. 

Jesus has power over evil things. He can say to what- 
ever is wrong and sinful within you, " Come out of the 
heart, thou bad spirit," and it will obey him. 

Then it will be as if you, too, like the man Jesus had 
healed, sat down in gentleness and love at Jesus' feet. 



Bible Link— Jesus goes to a feast at Matthew's house, and afterwards 
raises Jairus' little daughter from death to life — Matt. 9. 1, 10-17, 
18-26 ; Mask 5. 31-43 ; 2. 15-22 ; Luke 8. 40 ; 5. 29-39 ; 8. 4J-56. 



JESUS BRINGING DEAD CHILDREN TO LIFE. 

By Rev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

[Mark 5. 21-43.] 

Many years ago, in a beautiful home in Palestine, al- 
though the father was rich and a public officer, and every- 
body in the house had nice things to eat and beautiful 
things to wear, there was great sadness and anxiety, be- 
cause the little girl, twelve years old, was very sick. The 
father had heard that Jesus could heal diseases that no one 
else could cure, and so he hurried away to find him. When 
he saw him, he entreated him to come quickly to his home 



150 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

and save his little girl from dying ; but before Jesus got to 
the house, the little girl was dead, and the mother sent out 
the servants to tell the father that his daughter was dead, 
and it was no use to trouble Jesus any further about it. If 
they had known Jesus as we do, they would have been sure 
that it was no trouble to him to come to their homes and 
comfort them about the death of their little girl. Jesus 
did more than that. He took the little cold hand of the 
dead girl in his loving hand, and although the soul, the 
thinking part of her, had gone, and she was dead and still — 
no throbbing at her heart, no pulse at her wrist, no breath 
at her mouth — he spoke to her just as her mother used to 
call her in the morning when she was asleep, " Talitha 
cumi," which means, "Little one, get up." Because God 
that made our bodies was in the mind of Jesus, he could 
make the dead body live again, and so the soul, the think- 
ing part, came back again into her flesh, and she opened 
her eyes and sat up, and he told them to give her some- 
thing to eat. So the sad home was made glad. 

At another time Jesus was coming into a little village 
called Nain, and he saw a very sad company going out of 
the town toward the graveyard. Four men were carrying 
on a bier or litter 

THE DEAD BODY OF A BOY, 

the only son of his mother, a widow, who went behind 
weeping as if her heart would break. Jesus stopped the 
bier and said to the dead body, " ' Young man, I say unto 
thee, arise ' ; and he that was dead sat up, and he delivered 
him to his mother." 

So in these days the boys and girls sometimes die, and 
their rosy faces become pale, and the breath stops coming 
through their lips, and their hearts stop beating, and the 
thinking part of them, the soul, flies away, as a bird flies 
out of a cage. Then we call them dead. But if boys 
and girls who die have loved the Saviour and tried to do 



JESUS BRINGING- DEAD CHILDREN TO LIFE. 15i 

right, Jesus, although we see hiru not, stands beside their 
dead bodies and makes their souls to live, not in this world, 
but in the beautiful country we call heaven. Death is only 
like falling asleep for a few moments, and Jesus says to the 
soul, the thinking part, "Arise and live with me in heaven." 
Little Willie Newton was a child, about five years old. 
One day, after his mother had taken him into her room 
and prayed for him by name, when she arose he exclaimed, 
' i Mamma, mamma, I am 

GLAD YOU TOLD JESUS MT NAME ! 

Now he'll know me when I get to heaven. And when the 
kind angels that carry little children to the Saviour take 
me and lay me in his arms, Jesus will look at me so pleased 
and say, ' Why, this is little Willie Newton ; his mother 
told me about him ; how happy I am to see you, Willie !' 
Won't that be nice mamma ?" 

But some children have seen the bodies of friends who 
died put in a hole in the ground called a grave and covered 
up, and perhaps you think that what I say about their going 
to live with God cannot be true. I will explain how it is. 
I hold in my hand a watch. The outside we call the case. 
Inside of this are wheels and a mainspring and other ma- 
chinery that make the hands go and cause the watch to 
say "tick, tick, tick." Now if I take the machinery out 
of the case and bury the case out of sight down in this 
hat, still the machinery keeps on ticking, ticking, just the 
same as before, only without the case. So when we die, it 
is only the body, the case, that is put in the ground, and 
the thinking part of us, that loves and hopes and rejoices 
and remembers, goes on ticking — that is thinking — just the 
same as before. This thinking part of us we call the soul. 
When the body is buried, G-od takes the thinking part to 
live with him, if we have been trying to do right and love 
the Saviour. The thinking part of those who disobey God 
and do wrong, and will not ask to be forgiven, does not go 



158 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

to heaven, but to a place of trouble, and sorrow, and pun- 
ishment. If we love Jesus and obey God, when we die we 
shall go to a place where there is no sorrow — a much hap- 
pier place than any in this world. 

A little boy was singing on the street, " There'll be no 
sorrow there." A gentleman on his way to the cars paused 
and said, ' ' Little boy, 

TELL ME WHERE THERE IS NO SORROW." 

The poor boy raised both of his little hands toward heaven 
and sang with a sweet voice, " In heaven above, where all 
is love, there'll be no sorrow there." The man before this 
had not loved God ; but this little song made him think, 
think, think about what he ought to do, until he became a 
Christian, and got his heart ready to go to the land where 
there is no sorrow. So you see that death, to those who 
love God, is only moving out of this house of flesh where 
our souls are now living, into a more beautiful country 
where there is no sorrow. If we love, trust and obey the 
Saviour to-day, we shall live with him in that better coun- 
try forever. 



DEATH. 

Br Rev. J. G. MERRILL, Davenport, Iowa. 

She is not dead, .but sleepeth. — Luke 8. 52. 

[Mark 5. 21-43.] 

This was spoken of a little girl twelve years old. Her 

friends all supposed that she was dead. They were right ; 

she was soon to be buried. Jesus came, and, knowing 

that she was dead, said, in the words of your text, "She 

is not dead, but sleepeth." What did he mean ? He 

wanted to have the friends know that he thought that they 

had a wrong idea of death, and wrong feelings m regard 

to it ; and in the sense in which they spoke and thought 

of death, the little girl was not dead. 



DEATH. 159 

Now, there have been a large number of deaths during 
the last few weeks, and I can see that many of the people 
in town are thinking wrongly of death, and therefore I 
want to say a few words to you about it, for I am quite 
sure that Jesus had the right idea ; and so long as it is true 
that half of the graves in Oakdale are children's graves, I 
am very anxious to have you think and feel as you should 
concerning death. 

It is a blessed thing to go to sleep, when we are tired 
out and can drop to sleep in an instant. Sometimes we 
wish we could have more time to play, but when the hour 
of sleep comes, how sweetly it takes us in its arms, and 
nothing is more beautiful than a sleeping child. And it 
was only a few days ago that I saw a little child who had 
been suffering day after day, die ; and in a few moments 
such a sweet smile came upon her lips, that I could not 
help saying, " How sweetly she sleeps." 

The next thing for you to remember is, that those who 
go to sleep wake up. When you have been to school six 
hours, and have helped mother at home, and have played 
very hard all the spare moments, you begin to find it very 
hard to hold up your head, and nothing seems bright and 
pleasant ; but in the morning, when the sun looks in at the 
window, and says, "My little man, or little woman, it is 
time to get up," how bright the world looks ; how strong 
and happy you feel ; how very different from the way in 
which you felt the night before. So when any of us are 
put to sleep by Jesus, we can know that there is a morning 
coming ; and when that has come we shall be so strong, and 
beautiful, and happy, that the night of our sleep will seem 
to have been very short. But I hear some little child say, 
"I do not want to go to sleep in the ground ; I do not 
want to be put in a coffin ;" and you need not. Once in a 
while my little girl says, ' ' Papa, I don't want to go to bed 
up stairs." She does not want to be alone, so her mother 



160 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

allows her to make her bed upon the lounge in the bright 
sitting-room. At length she falls asleep ; then, when I 
am through with my studies, I carry her to her bed, and 
she knows nothing of the dark night nor the lonely room. 
In the same way no child of you will ever know anything 
about the grave or coffin, if you have to be buried in them. 
You fall asleep at home, and when you wake, if you are 
Christ's, you awake in a better home. 

But another thing, we all grow when we are asleep. 
The reason why some children do not grow more, is because 
they do not sleep enough. A few months ago a farmer's 
boy put a kernel of corn in the ground ; you could pinch 
it between your little fingers, or hold a hundred kernels in 
your hand ; but when the corn slept it grew, and to-day it 
has became a tall stalk, with full ears and long rows of 
kernels. So, if a little child's body is taken to the ceme- 
tery and left sleeping, it will not be very long, as God 
counts time, before it will come forth in heaven a most 
beautiful body, worthy to live in the beautiful land. 



Bible Link— Jesus heals two blind men, and casts out a dumb 
spirit — Matt. 9. 27-34. He visits Nazareth again — Matt. 13. 
54-58 ; Mark 6. 1-5. Jesus sends out his apostles— Matt. 9. 36-38 ; 
10. 1, 5-42 ; Mark 6. 7-11 ; Luke 9. 1-5 ; Matt. 11. 1 ; Mark 6. 12, 
13 ; Luke 9. 6. 



BECOMING DISCIPLES OF JESUS BY REPEXT- 

AXCE. 

By Rev. LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D., New York. 

They went out and preached that men should repent. — Mark 

6. 12. 

I want to speak for ten minutes to any, young or old, 

who want to be Christians, but do not know how ; to try 

and tell you very simply and plainly just what it is to be 



DISCIPLES OF JESCS. 161 

a Christian — so simply and plainly that you cannot fail to 
understand it clearly. 

The first thing is to be sorry when you have done 
wrong ; and sorry because it is wrong. Abraham and Ja- 
cob, Moses and David, Peter and Paul, did many wrong 
things. But they were always heartily sorry for it. 
There are two stories in the Bible, concerning two kings of 
Israel, which illustrate this very clearly. They are the 
stories respectively of David and Uriah, and of Ahab and 
Naboth. They are something alike in the beginning and 
very different in the end, and show very clearly the differ- 
ence between one who is a Christian and one who is not. 
The stories are these. TVhen David was king of Israel he 
chanced one day to see a very beautiful woman whom he 
thought at once he would like to have as his wife. But 
when he came to inquire about her, he found she was al- 
ready married to a man named Uriah. He immediately set 
himself to plan how he could secure Uriah's death, so that 
he might marry his wife. A war was raging at the time, 
with the Syrians, and Uriah was in the army. So David 
sent to his General, Joab, a letter directing him to send 
Uriah into the front of the battle, that he might be killed. 
The plan succeeded. Uriah was killed, and David married 
his wife. He was really guilty of murder. It was his 
duty as king to protect his subjects, and particularly to 
care for the soldiers who were fighting for him ; but he had 
contrived to have a good and loyal soldier killed to gratify 
himself. It was a cruel and wicked thing to do. 

The crime of Ahab was similar, though not as great. 
Close by his palace was a vinevard. It belonged to Xaboth. 
Ahab wanted it for a garden because it adjoined his palace. 
He offered Xaboth the money for it, but Xaboth would 
not sell it. Of course the king had no right to compel 
him to give it up. But his wife, who was a very wicked 
woman, contrived a scheme for getting it. She sent let- 



162 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

ters to certain nobles, sealing them with the king's seal — 
so you see he consented to it — directing them to have Na- 
both accused of blasphemy and to hire witnesses to swear 
to the accusation, and so have him put to death. It was 
done. And as David got his wife, so Ahab got his vine- 
yard. The two cases were very similar — David's perhaps 
a little the worse. David killed Uriah to rob him of his 
wife ; Ahab killed Naboth to rob him of his vineyard. 
David acted of his own accord ; Ahab under the sugges- 
tion of his wife. But now appears the difference. Na- 
than, the prophet of God, came to David and rebuked him 
for his sin, and told him God would punish him. David 
was not angry. He did not attempt to defend himself. 
He confessed his sin. He was truly and heartily sorry for 
it ; not sorry merely because he was to be punished, but 
because he had done wrong. He confessed his sin to God, 
and when God punished him by taking away his son, he 
submitted to the punishment without complaining. 

God sent also his prophet Elijah to Ahab, to reprove him. 
But Ahab received him very differently. He greeted him in 
the outset with, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy ?" 
And though when he came to bear the punishment with 
which God threatened him he humbled himself, and rent 
his clothes and fasted, he showed no sign of feeling that 
he had really done wrong, and was sorry for it because it 
was wrong. He kept on just as before, doing very abom- 
inably ; and when a little later another prophet, Micaiah, 
preached something he did not like, he put him in prison 
for it. This was the difference between David and Ahab. 
They both did wickedly — very wickedly — but David re- 
pented of his Avickedness and confessed it and asked for- 
giveness, and Ahab did not. 

Now we have all done wickedly. Not as David and 
Ahab, it is true, but the Bible says there is none that 
doeth good ; no, not one. If we had done always right, 



DISCIPLES OF JESUS. 163 

if we had committed no sins, we might go to heaven be- 
cause we were good. But we have committed a great 
many sins. We cannot secure the favor of God on the 
ground of goodness. There is only one other way ; re- 
pentance, confession, and forgiveness. To be a Christian 
is not so much, then, to be good, as to be sorry that we 
have been evil, and to seek forgiveness. The preaching of 
the Gospel is accordingly called the baptism of repentance 
for the remission of sins, not the baptism of goodness. 
This is the door by which all who have ever come into the 
kingdom of God have entered. This is the Wicket Gate. 
This is the first thing in being a Christian ; repentance — 
that is, sorrow for sin and the abandonment of it. 

And this, of course, includes confession of it. It is not 
sorrow for sin that heals it, but confession of sin. Ahab 
was sorrowful, but sorrow did not bring him to God. It 
makes a great deal of difference whether you go from 
Christ or go to Christ sorrowful. 

This was the difference between Judas and Peter. 
Judas betrayed Christ ; Peter denied him. Both were 
very sorry afterwards. But Peter's sorrow did not sepa- 
rate him from Christ. He did not go away from him be- 
cause he had sinned. He came to him with new love and 
new consecration. Judas, on the other hand, was driven 
away from Christ by his sorrow ; and instead of seeking 
the remission of his sins by confession and asking forgive- 
ness, he sought to escape them by going and hanging him- 
self. 

But it is not enough to be sorry for your sins and to 
confess them, if you go right on in them afterward. The 
Prodigal not only went home, he stayed home. He not 
only asked his father to forgive him, but he was willing to 
become even as a hired servant. To be a Christian is not 
only to repent of our sins and confess them, but also to 
undertake in earnest to live thereafter a holy and godly 



164 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

life. It is thus partly true that to be a Christian is to be 
good ; but yet not so much to be good, after all, as con- 
stantly to strive to be better. This is what Christ means 
when he says, ' 4 If any man will come after me, let him 
deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." You 
are to follow Christ — that is, he is to be your pattern and 
example. 

To be a Christian, then, is a very simple though not an 
easy matter. You can begin to be a Christian to-day ; 
you can begin to be a Christian now. To be a Christian 
is to confess to your father and mother and to God, when- 
ever you have done wrong ; to be sorry for it ; to try to 
do better in future ; and to be, from this time, as kind, as 
gentle, as loving, as courageous and as much like Christ as 
you can, day by day ; to do all in your power to make 
others wiser and better and happier. 



Bible Link— Herod orders that John the Baptist shall be killed, and 
afterwards hears of the fame of Jesus, and wishes to see him — 
Matt. 14. 6-12 ; Mark 6. 21-29 ; Matt. 1U. 1, 2 ; Mark 6. 14-16 ; 
Luke 9. 7-9. 



DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

By Rev. B. T. VINCENT, Philadelphia. 

[Mark 6. 14-29.] 

In these verses we have a Panorama of Bible pictures 
which it will be interestino- to look at. They are very old, 
but the canvas upon which they are painted is neither worn 
out nor moth-eaten ; nor will the machinery give way while 
the pictures roll before us. And, what is better than all, 
the pictures are full of life as when they were first painted 
by the Master Artist ; and the light that shines upon them 
is given by his own Spirit. 



DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 165 

The bell rings, the curtain mores and brings the first 
scene before us. It is of a king at a feast, surrounded by 
his attendants and guests. What a face is his ! There is 
sadness in it, and yet it is full of laughter, for all around 
him is revelry ; and this must be a merry company, though 
the expression of his countenance seems to ill accord with 
it. "He looks as if he was in trouble," says one of my 
little friends. Aye, does he! "He looks guilty," cries 
another, "even while he seems so full of laughter." And 
here a wise boy in our group says, ' ' I think he looks as if 
he was trying to make a bad heart happy by a drunken 
body." Wise conclusion that seems to be. And do you 
see that though he is the best dressed among them and is 
really their ruler, they seem to have him in their power ? 
They are free of care, while he is trying to drown care by 
yielding to their gross jokes and accepting their offers of 
fresh cups. But let us wait for the next scene, and we shall 
doubtless know more about him. 

There goes the bell ! The curtain rolls on, and before 
us is the same room and the same company. But see the 
beautiful maiden in the presence of the king. How grace- 
fully she dances, and how delighted the king and all his 
attendants are with her ! This is another way of drown- 
ing conscience. And one has helped to bring about this 
plan of whom perhaps the next picture will tell us some- 
thing. 

The bell again. The moving canvas brings us before an- 
other room, and the festal hall has vanished. Here, though, 
is the maiden, but she is not dancing ; she seems to be just 
getting ready to go. The woman with queenly air but 
with hard, cruel, revengeful face, is talking to her. Can it 
be her mother ? What an awful face the painter has put 
into the picture ! And the daughter — if a daughter — 
though not of cruel countenance, looks as if she was re- 
ceiving some cruel order which, though she has no likino- 



166 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

for it, she is compelled to obey ; for her lips are set as be- 
ing averse and yet submissive. But we will have an ex- 
planation in the next picture. 

Here it comes ! and it is the chamber of the king again. 
All are here as before, but the dancing has ceased, and the 
girl is talking to the king. Painters cannot make their 
pictures speak words aloud, but this one does succeed in 
making these faces strangely expressive. The laughter has 
gone from the face of the king, and even from those of the 
courtiers, though they seem unconcerned as thinking little 
of either the humorous or the serious shades of life. But 
what a tale is told by the face of the king ! Despair 
is in it, and the old lines that shadowed through the 
laughter before, are now there in full blackness, not of 
wrath but of ghastly horror. What can it mean ? 

Again the pictures change. Now a dungeon appears. 
In it a man alone, and yet in whom is no loneliness, you 
will conclude ; for while there are the lines of boldness and 
purpose in the face, it is full of patience and hope, and he 
looks as though some delightful visitor must be with him, 
whom the artist has not put into the scene. How different 
this face from the others we have been looking at ! 

The changing canvas still shows us the dungeon, and 
while the prisoner bends forward, an executioner stands 
above him with a drawn sword, in the act of severing the 
head from the body. 

Quickly the scenes change ; here is another event in the 
king's banquet hall. The dancing girl holds in her hand a 
plate, and on it is the head of the prisoner ! There is hor- 
ror on the face of the king, the horror of grief and guilt. 
And now we see what the request of the girl was. 

Last of all the canvas shows us again the room in which 
the woman sat before giving command to the girl ! Now 
she stands, and before her is the girl with the terrible dish 
in her hands. The woman gloats over it ! See her fiend- 



DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 167 

ish face as she looks upon the head that we may now con- 
clude she asked for. But the face of the dead, how calm 
it is ! No look of reproach in the eyes — no cringe of 
cowardly fear on the cheeks — no threat of revenge on the 
lips. Vice seems to have had a victory and virtue to have 
been defeated, as our Panorama closes. But let us study 
the history awhile. 

1. Herod was the king, at least so he was called. But 
he was no king, only a little governor ; yet those who 
wanted to use him for their own pleasure, nattered him by 
calling him king. He belonged to a bad family. But be- 
cause he did, he need not have been bad himself. A good 
spirit in men may, by God's help, overcome bad tendencies, 
and he might have been good, if he had chosen to be. But 
he did not so choose. Among other bad deeds he had for- 
saken his own wife, and taken his brother's from him. He 
was reminded of his guilt in this (and this reminded him 
of other guilt) by a good preacher. He revenged himself 
upon the good man by locking him up in prison, hoping 
to still the voice of rebuke. And he tried to drown his 
conscience in pleasure and drunkenness. In the midst of 
the revelry the dancing beauty called forth a bad promise 
to take the life of the holy prisoner ; and, forced by false 
shame and mean cowardice, he kept the cruel oath. As 
but a beginning of his suffering for his sins, he was after- 
ward banished from his rulership to a distant country, where 
he died in dishonor. 

2. Herodias was the queen. But she was no queen ; she 
could not even command her own bad heart, nor play the 
common part of a true woman ; she was a cruel, wicked, 
scheming, revengeful, daring one. She had not only com- 
mitted the sin of marrying her uncle, but, leaving him, she 
married another uncle. When the good preacher rebuked 
them for the wrong, she raged like a maniac at him, and 
from that moment sought to take his life. And she was 



168 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

willing to use her daughter to gain this cruel end. It is 
said that when the head was brought to her, she pulled out 
its tongue and thrust her bodkin through it, to vent her 
special rage on the honest tongue that told her the truth, 
and yet the loving tongue that would have saved her soul. 

3. Salome was the dancing girl. She was the daughter 
of the queen, and neice of the king. She was unfortunate 
in belonging to such a family, for it gave her a leaning to 
evil. And she had been trained badly too. She was made 
to think, as some other girls are, that dress and the false 
grace that the dancing-master gives, and the admiration of 
giddy, brainless men, were worth living for. And so she 
was ready for bad deeds, in the flush of admiration, when 
flattered by drunkards because of her dancing. And 
though possibly it seemed to her horrible at first, she was 
yet willing to go and ask for the head of the good man, 
and afterward to carry the bloody burden to her vicious, 
cruel mother. Flattery and self-seeking and low bodily 
indulgence will harden the most tender heart. How sad is 
the picture of a girl giving her beauty and grace as an in- 
ducement to a drunken king to kill a good man, that her 
wretched mother might mutilate the bleeding head ! And 
yet even this girl might have been good and pure, and she 
might have used her attractions to win souls to the beauty 
of holiness. 

4. The Courtiers were the attendants of the king. They 
had no manliness themselves, and were willing to stay with 
him for a living, and to do anything to get some poor pit- 
tance at his hands. They used his weaknesses to get him 
to do things to their advantage and to his own ill. There 
are many such boys and girls, and many such men and 
Avomen, who do nothing but rove around to make what 
they can off of others, neither doing nor getting good, but 
rather wasting themselves and others in frivolous and vicious 
deeds. Do not be followers of others, except those whom 



DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 169 

you may help or who may help you ; and scorn those who 
follow you, but who seek neither to help you nor to be 
helped by you. 

5. John the Baptist was the honest preacher who told 
the truth to the wicked king at the cost of his life. He 
was the forerunner of Jesus, you remember, preaching 
everywhere repentance and the coming of the Kingdom. 
He was no pretender, but plain-spoken and thoroughly 
honest. He wanted to make men better and to honor 
Christ, and he was willing to suffer any thing for these good 
ends. In prison he was patient and peaceful. He knew 
all was right, and would be always right, to them who were 
in God's hands, and he was always in God's hands. When 
. the executioner came to take off his head, we are sure he 
submitted without a struggle ; for to die was an end of 
trouble to him, and so to die was an immortal honor. That 
he would rather have lived and preached to other wicked 
men and women, that, if possible, he might have saved 
them, is certainly likely. But that God's will was his will 
we are also sure. This only is the true way to live ; and 
while in these days it will not be likely to result in our be- 
ing beheaded, it may require of us some suffering from 
unkind rebukes and the hatred of those who hate goodness ; 
but we shall be loved eternally by Him whose love is worth 
having. 

Now the pictures have rolled away, and we have learned 
something of these lives, so that we can remember some- 
what of the faces, and see in them the characters they 
represent. What desires are left in us ? Do we want the 
little greatness that only comes with sin, and gives sharp- 
ness to cruelty ? Do we want beauty and grace, if with 
pride and emptiness of real worth, and in preparation for 
deeds of horror in the excitements of pleasure and flattery ? 
Do we want the places of flatterers for the low favors of 
the king in hollow-hearted vanity, and to be blotted out 



170 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

as useless and worthless when the gaities of the court are 
gone ? Or, do we not rather want to be honest, earnest 
learners of the truth, to grow into teachers who try to save 
men from their sins ; suffer though we may for our bold- 
ness, and die though we may for our honesty, knowing that 
we shall receive the eternal rewards of the faithful in the 
courts of Heaven, where we shall be real kings and priests 
forever ? 



Bible Link — The apostles return to Jesus and report what they have 
done — Mark 6. 30, 31 ; Luke 9. 10. Five thousand people are fed 
by Jesus from the basket of a little boy— Matt. 14. 13-21 ; Mark 
6. 32-44 ; Luke 9. 10-17 ; John 6. 1-14. 



A LAD WHO LIVED LONG AGO. 
By Rev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

Hundreds of years ago, a boy lived near the shores of a 
lake which had many cities around it, and many boats on 
its waters. 

One day he saw a great crowd of people following a 
kind-looking man toward the shore of the lake, and when 
he asked about it one of the crowd said that the man they 
were following could talk wonderfully, and do things that 
nobody ever saw done before. The boy had a basket in 
his hand with four or five loaves of bread and two or three 
little fishes in it. I think he had been selling bread and 
fish from his basket until now it was almost empty. He 
hurried on with the crowd to see this wonderful man, never 
thinking that he would notice such a little boy as he was 
in such a great crowd. It was in the morning, and the 
people had left their beds very early, on purpose to hear and 
see this man. Before he could eat breakfast, they crowded 



A LAD WHO LIVED LONG AGO. 171 

around this loving teacher. He was also a wonderful phy- 
sician, and would sometimes pause in his teaching to heal 
people whom no other doctors could cure. He had so 
many questions to answer and so many people to cure, that 
he could not stop long to eat or rest. He loved others so 
much better than his own comfort, that some selfish people 
called him " crazy ;" but of course he was not. 

I heard of a little girl once who talked so much about 
Jesus that they said she was crazy. She answered, ' ' Well, 
if I am, tkafs no reason why you shouldn't love Jesus." 

At length this weary teacher got into a boat to go across 
the lake and rest, but the people ran around the shore so 
fast that they reached the other side first. The teacher 
was very tired, but he saw how anxious the people were to 
know about God and truth, and he taught them again until 
it was almost night. Then he saw that the people were 
getting hungry, for they had forgotten to bring anything to 
eat. He was kind to their bodies as well as to their souls, 
and so he said to his friends (he had twelve men always 
with him who were his' dearest friends), " Where can we 
buy bread for the people ?" There were five thousand peo- 
ple in the crowd, besides women and children. And one 
of the teacher's friends named Philip reckoned up and said, 
" Two hundred pennyworth of bread would be only enough 
for each one to have a little." Two hundred pennies in 
that country were a great deal of money. A penny was all 
a man got for working all day, so that it would cost as 
much to feed the people as a man could earn in two hun- 
dred days. 

Another friend, name Andrew, looked around to see if 
he could find any food, and he couldn't find any except 
what was in the little boy's basket, so he came back feeling 
very much discouraged and said, " There is no food here, 
except that a boy has five barley loaves and two small 
fishes ; but what are they among so many people P 1 The 



172 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

loaves were round, like cookies, and as thin, but as wide as 
my two hands — ten inches in diameter. 

Now do you think that would be enough to feed that 
great crowd of hungry people i It was. Every one in 
that great crowd had all he wanted, and there was enough 
left when they got through for every one of the teacher's 
twelve friends to have a large basketful. 

Now how could that be ? Do you want me to tell you 
how such a strange thing happened ? Well, the teacher 
said to Andrew, " Bring the boy and his basket to me." 
Then he put his hands on the bread and fishes in the basket 
and prayed, and gave the bread and fishes to his friends to 
give to the people ; and the five loaves and two fishes, as he 
touched them, kept increasing until they were perhaps five 
thousand loaves and a great many fishes — enough for every- 
body. Now you can answer some questions in whispers. 
Could I touch five loaves and make them suddenly change 
into five thousand ? Could anybody but God and God's 
Son do it ? 

Who was the teacher I have been talking about ? Now 
tell me who gave manna to the Jews ? (God.) "Who gives 
us our daily bread ? How does he give it ? 

Seed, Shoot, Stalk, Corn, 

Mill, Oven, Bread. 

How did God's Son give men bread ? By touching the 
loaves and making them more. Then God's Son is just as 
mighty as his Father in heaven. 

Who helped Jesus feed the people ? His apostles and 
the lad. Isn't it strange that Jesus should notice that lit- 
tle boy, and take him to help him \ 

What did Jesus say to Andrew about the lad and his 
basket? "Bring them hither to me." So the little lad 
was " one to help Jesus." How many of you Avant to be 
helpers for Jesus ? Well, what can you bring to him ? 
Words, money, prayers, hands, feet, hearts. These are 



A LAD WHO LIVED LONG AGO. 1*73 

your loaves and fishes. Were the five loaves and two fishes 
enough to feed the people ? Not until Jesus touched them. 
Do you think your little words and pennies and prayers 
and hands and feet could do any good in the world if Jesus 
touched them ? 

I could tell you how a little girl's question, " Does you 
love God ?" led a man to Jesus ; how a little girl's penny 
bought a tract that made a man a Christian ; and how a 
little boy's prayer made his father give up drinking and be- 
come a good man. 

Now how can we bring our " loaves" to Jesus for him to 
bless them ? Think ! Can we see Jesus ? How do we 
come to him ? By praying. Then let us bring all our 
loaves to Jesus in prayer every day. 

Jesus gave the bread to his disciples, and said, as he 
pointed to the people sitting on the grass in little groups, 
" Give ye them to eat." 

In England, many years ago, the poor came once a week 
to the rich for food, and the rich man's wife stood in the 
door and gave the bread, and so the word " lady " means 
loaf-giver. Now I want every little lady here and every lad 
to be God's loaf -givers. 

The Bible is God's basket of heavenly bread to feed the 
souls of men in the whole world, and every verse is a loaf. 
On some round paper loaves I have put a verse of the Bible 
to make them God's loaves : " Man shall not live by bread 
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
of God," I'll give each of you some of God's loaves to 
give to other people. 



174 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



Bible Link — Jesus walks on the stormy sea— Matt. 14. 22-S 
Mark 6. 45-56 ; John 6. 15-21. 



JESUS WALKING ON THE SEA. 

By Rev. E. B. SNYDER, D.D., Philadelphia. 

Jesus cometh to his disciples, walking on the sea. — Mark 
6. 48. 

My Dear Young Friends : After a brief summer vaca- 
tion, I am so glad to meet you once more in this pleasant 
place of worship. The morning is warm, but you know 
the sermon will be short. 

How shall I say to you in the space of terf minutes all 
that this text teaches ? 

Jesus walking on the sea, is my theme. 

A number of friends with myself were bathing in the 
surf at Ocean Grove, a few days since, when a daring 
young man swam with one hand a long distance from the 
beach, and carrying a raised umbrella in the other. Pres- 
ently he turned on his back and floated like a stick or 
piece of wood — still holding the umbrella over him. The 
act was a novel one, and naturally attracted a good deal of 
attention, especially from the children. If, however, the 
man had stood straight up and walked on the water, it 
would have excited everybody on the beach. All eyes 
would have been fastened upon him ; words of wonder 
would have fallen from every lip, and everybody would 
have asked, " Who is that man ?" " How can he walk on 
the water ?" But this is just what Jesus did. It was a 



JESUS WALKI3TG OS THE SEA. l7o 

most wonderful thing to do, yet we all believe he did it, 
just because this blessed Book says so. 

But as I look into your little eyes I think I see the 
question stirring' your hearts, ' ' "Why did Jesus walk on 
the sea ?" I answer — 

I. Because he could. He did then what you cannot do ; 
what no^mere man can do. If you could do some one 
thing- better than anybody else in the world, it would 
prove that in that one thing you was stronger than any one 
else. If you could walk ten rods on the water, your name 
would be printed in every paper in the world ; everybody 
would be talking about you. So many people love notori- 
ety, that if anybody could do this, they would try it. So 
when Jesus walked on the sea, he did what nobody else 
could possibly do. It is true, as we all remember, the 
Apostle Peter tried it once ; but he only took a step or two, 
when he became terribly frightened at the big waves, and 
began to sink down in the sea and would have drowned, 
had the Master not been there to take hold of and save 
him. 

A little girl in one of our homes heard her father read 
this scene in Peter's life. She became quite excited, and 
impulsively said, "O papa, wasn't it good that Jesus just 
happened to be near enough to Peter to take hold of him 
and save him from sinking in the deep, deep sea ?" Her 
father said, ' ' My child, Jesus did not happen to be near 
Peter, he meant to be there to save him from drowning, 
and teach him a great lesson. Jesus is always near us 
whether we are on the stormy sea or on the land, to help 
us do our work, to protect us in danger, to cheer us when 
we are sad. ' Lo ! I am with you alway.' " 

Now Jesus not only walked on the water, but he did a 
great many other things that no other man could do — that 
even the mightiest angel in heaven could not do. And 
this proves that Jesus was not only greater than all men 



176 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

and all angels, but was almighty, and so was divine. Oh, 
is it not pleasant to think that he who walked upon the 
water to his disciples, and who comes to help and save us, 
is not only the mighty God of the universe, but our heav- 
enly Father ? 

As day after day I sat on the beach watching the ocean — 
always restless, and often full of great waves — I said to 
myself, Did Jesus walk on the storm-tossed sea to his dis- 
ciples, that he might help them in their distress ? Then 
lie can come to me at any time and any where. No night 
too dark for him to be out, for ' ' the darkness and the 
light are both alike to him." No sea too rough for him to 
walk ; no road too difficult for him to travel ; no moun- 
tain too steep for him to climb. " All power is given unto 
me in heaven and in earth." What we need to have 
done, that Ave cannot do for ourselves, Jesus will do and 
can do for us, whether we are in our quiet homes on the 
land, or in rocking ships on the sea. 

" We love to sing the power of God, 
Which made the mountains rise ; 
Which spread the flowing sea abroad, 
And built the lofty skies." 

II. But Jesus walked on the sea because he should. 
We say he should because he did. For Jesus never did 
anything that he need not do, or that he should not do. 
lie had " all power," and could do what he chose to do. 

He was "all wise." Therefore he knew just what he 
ought to do, and just what we needed to have done for us. 
He Avas also absolutely good. Hence he did nothing that 
he should not, but always and only did Avhat he should. 

Usefulness was his life purpose. "He Avent about do- 
ing good." This was his "meat and his drink." Men 
sometimes do things just for display, and sometimes little 
boys and girls like to " show off." I knew a little girl 



JESUS WALKING ON THE SEA. 177 

who was a very fine singer. She had a sweet voice, and 
she knew and was very proud of it. But she greatly of- 
fended good taste, by constantly trying to show off. It 
is very important to have accomplishments, but it is even 
more important to know how and when to use them. 

Jesus never in his whole life did anything just to show 
how powerful or how wise or how good he was. He had 
no time or heart simply to amuse the people, or to attract 
attention to himself. He was and is our Helper. Hence 
all the names he has assumed denote helpfulness. 

"I am the true light." " I am the way." " I am the 
door." " I am the good shepherd." How much we need 
light ! How sad and dangerous to walk in darkness ! 
How useful is a plain and well protected icay in which to 
walk ! "What would be a splendid palace of marble with- 
out a door by which to enter it ? Or what would become 
of the flock without the kind shepherd to lead and feed 
and protect it ? The Bible gives some names to Jesus 
which denote beauty. He is called ' ' the Bright and 
Morning Star," "the Rose of Sharon," "the Lily of the 
Valley." 

But the truly beautiful is always useful. The most 
beautiful object the Saviour beholds is a good child ; 
and how useful is goodness in children ! All that Jesus 
was, and all that he did, enforces this lesson : Be useful 
in the highest sense and in the simplest way. At the time 
to which our text alludes, the disciples, as we have seen, 
were in a ship on the sea of G-ennesaret. It was night — 
dark and stormy. The winds were contrary ; the sea 
rough and perilous. The disciples were in danger, and they 
needed immediate help, and the Master knew it. He 
walked to them upon the sea. Doubtless there was no 
boat at hand, else the Saviour would have sailed or rowed 
to the relief of the distressed disciples ; since, as we have 
seen, he never did anything simply for display. Xor did 



178 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

lie ever resort to the miraculous when ordinary means 
would do. 

Let us learn to look for success in the use of ordinary 
means. It is not by wonderful dreams, or by lucky 
turns in the wheel of fortune, or by happy random hits, or 
by startling events, that the masses reach success. Pa- 
tient persevering toil along the ordinary paths of life 
leads most surely to distinction and victory. We are 
only warranted in trying the unusual, when the plain and 
practical fail. Jesus finished his journey to the opposite 
side of the sea in the boat, when he reached it. That is, 
he ceased to use the extraordinary when the ordinary 
would accomplish his purposes. How instructive are all . 
the words of Jesus ! How suggestive every incident in his 
life ! In the incident before us, we not only learn that Je- 
sus has power, but that he uses it wisely and lovingly for 
his followers. 

! do you not feel to-day like becoming a disciple of 
him who can walk on the sea and still its waves ; who can 
touch the earth and cause it to bring forth fruits and flow- 
ers ; who can enter your heart, hush every wild passion, 
and fill it with love and purity and power ? O come, my 
dear young people, to Jesus now. Come humbly and 
teachably, and he will accept you, and so fill you with 
himself as that you will sing sweetly — 

" Thou art the sea of love 

Where all my pleasures roll ; 
The circle where my passions move, 
And centre of my soul." 



GOD WANTS CLEAN HEARTS. 179 



Bible Link— Jesus at Capernaum — John 6. 23-71 ; 7. 1. Jesus talks 
with the Pharisees about unwashed hands and hearts — Matt. 15. 
1-20 ; Mark 7. 1-23. 



GOD WANTS CLEAN HEARTS, AS WELL AS 

CLEAN HANDS. 

By Rev. W. F. CRAFTS 

[Mark 7. 1-23.] 

When Jesus was living with men on the earth, there 
were many people who had so little understanding of re- 
ligion, that they thought it was more important to have 
clean hands than clean hearts. 

These men washed their hands before each meal, which 
was very proper ; and they washed their pots and cups and 
brazen vessels and platters very many times, which was all 
right ; only they made the mistake of thinking that this 
would take the place of having their hearts washed from 
sin. God had taught these Jews that it was their duty to 
cleanse their bodies and also to cleanse their hearts, and 
they forgot the most important part about the heart-cleans- 
ing. Jesus said to them, ' ' From within, out of the heart 
of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, mur- 
ders, adulteries, covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lascivous- 
ness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness : all these evil 
things proceed from within, and defile the man." Mark 7. 
21-23. 

Mothers sometimes wash out the mouths of their chil- 
dren with soap-suds, when they have been saying vulgar or 
profane or lying words ; but the mouth isn't so much to 



180 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

blame as the heart, for a child always thinks a bad thing 
in his heart before he speaks it with his mouth. Mother 
can't reach down the throat and wash the bad thoughts out 
of your heart, and so you must ask God to do that. 

Now I want to tell you a story about a boy who made 
the same kind of a mistake as those old Jews, about being 
clean. 

" I say, Harry, what has made you take this wonder- 
fully clean fit all of a sudden ?" asked John Shelford of 
his little brother, who was drying his hands after a vigor- 
ous pumping. ' ' This is the seventh time I have seen you 
go to the pump and w T ash your hands to-day." 

" Because I want to be strong," replied Harry. 

" Well, but washing your hands won't make you strong." 

" Yes, it will ; the Bible says so." 

" I don't believe it does," said John. 

" I'm sure it does, though," returned Harry, positively ; 
"papa read it at prayers this morning — ' He that hath 
clean hands shall be stronger and stronger ; ' and Harry 
waved his arms in the air, and went through sundry gym- 
nastic exercises, as if to see whether his numerous wash- 
ings during the day had increased his strength. 

" Well, you don't suppose that means really clean 
hands. You are a silly boy. You have had all your trou- 
ble for nothing." 

"No I haven't! I'll ask papa to-night if the Bible 
doesn't really mean what it says." 

So in the evening, when Mr. Shelford had come home 
from business, as soon as he had finished his tea, Harry be- 
gan : 

" Papa, doesn't the Bible say that if you have ' clean 
hands ' you'll be strong ?" 

"Certainly, my boy," said Mr. Shelford, smiling. "I 
see you remember what we read this morning — how Job 



GOD WANTS CLEAN HEARTS. 181 

said, ' The righteous also shall hold on his way ; and he 
that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. ' " 

" There," cried Harry, " I knew I was right ; and wash- 
ing your hands will make you strong, won't it ?" 

"It is very good for little boys to wash themselves, and 
it helps to make them strong and healthy if they keep 
clean ; but there are some stains that we can't get out with 
soap and water, and it was freedom from these stains that 
the Bible meant. The other day I saw a little boy lift his 
hand to strike his sister. That made it far dirtier than if 
he had been making mud-pies for a whole day." 
Harry blushed, and his papa went on : 
" "When I was a little boy I was taught that it was my 
duty to keep my hands from picking and stealing. Pick- 
ing, you know, means taking little things that don't be- 
long to you ; like stealing lumps of sugar out of mamma's 
cupboard, or picking fruit off the young trees that I tell 
you not to touch. " 

' ' Then Eve made her hands dirty when she took the 
forbidden fruit," put in John, who feared the conversation 
was getting* personal. 

" Yes, indeed, she did ; and no one can tell the number 
of soiled hands that have been the result of that action. 
Now, John, can you remember the name of a man who 
• stretched forth Ms hands to vex certain of the church \ ' 
That made his hands very dirty, indeed. " 

" That was Herod, papa ; when he killed James and put 
Peter into prison." 

•■ Yes ; and do you know who it was who tried to clear 
himself from the blame of a very terrible act by washing 
his hands ?" 

Both boys were silent, and Mr. Shelford asked again : 
•■ Who took water and washed his hands, saying, ■ I am 
innocent of the blood of this just person' ?" 



182 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

"0, that was Pilate, papa," said Harry, "when he Jet 
the people crucify Jesus." 

"Yes, but the stain of sin was just as much on his soul 
after he had washed his hands as before ; and it is the same 
with our sins, whether we call them little or great ; we 
cannot get rid of them, or of their consequences, however 
we try to clear ourselves. No washing of our own will do 
it. So what must we do, Harry ? When you make your 
hands dirty with doing wrong things, how can they be 
made clean ?" 

"God can wash them, papa ; that is what you mean, 
isn't it ? because David said, ' Wash me, and I shall be 
whiter than snow.' " 

"And Peter," added John, " asked the Lord Jesus to 
wash not only his feet, but his hands and his head ; but 
Jesus said he need only have his feet washed." 

" Yes, because, as the Lord said, he was washed already 
by faith in Christ's cleansing word. It was the same cleans- 
ing that David meant when he prayed, ' Create in me a 
clean heart, Go*d.' And I want my dear boys to pray 
too : 

' Wash me, but not my feet alone— 
My hands, my head, my heart. ' 

Then you will have the blessing that is promised to him 
that ' hath clean hands and a pure heart ; ' and you will 
every day grow ' stronger and stronger ' in the best kind of 
strength, till you are like those to whom St. John said, ' I 
have written unto you, young men because ye are strong.' " 






JESUS HEALING SICK CHILDREN. 183 



Bible Link — Jesus heals a sick girl — Matt. 15. 21-28 ; Mark 7. 
24-30. 



JESUS HEALING SICK CHILDREN. 

By Rev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

The child was cured from that very hour. — Matt. 17. 18. 
(Mark 1. 24-30.) 

There are three beautiful stories in the Bible about Jesus 
healing sick children. A mother who knew that Jesus 
could heal diseases which no doctor could cure, came to 
him one day in great trouble and asked him to come to her 
house and heal her daughter, who had an awful disease, 

SOMETHING LIKE BEING CRAZY, ONLY WORSE. 

Jesus wanted to see how much she trusted in him, and 
so at first he seemed not to listen ; and then when she 
asked again, just to see what she would say, he reminded 
her that such poor Gentile people as she was, were called 
dogs; and he said, " Shall we take the children's bread 
and give it to the dogs V And she was so humble in her 
heart that she answered, "Even the little dogs eat of the 
children's crumbs." Jesus saw how much she believed in 
God and in him, and so he told her that when* she got home 
she would find her daughter well ; and she did. Jesus had 
healed her by a thought. At another time, when Jesus 
came down from a high mountain, where he had been pray- 
ing all night, a father brought to him his boy, who had 
that same awful disease. It made him throw himself into 
the fire and into the water, aud he would fall upon the 



184 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

ground and wallow around in the mud, and foam at his 
mouth like a mad dog. The boy had been troubled with 
this disease from childhood, and no one was able to cure 
him. When Jesus came toward hirn, he fell on the ground 
and rolled about in agony, and then lay still as if he was 
dead. Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and 
he was cured from that very hour. 

At another time a rich man, who was a public officer, a 
nobleman, came to Jesus in a great hurry, and from a long 
distance, saying, ' ' Come quickly to my house, for my boy 
is dying with a fever." Jesus said to him, " Go thy way ; 
thy son liveth." The nobleman quickly started for his 
home. It was so far that he could not get there until the 
next day. When he was almost there, his servants came 
running out to meet him, with glad faces, and said, " Your 
boy is well. " Then the father asked, ' ' What hour did he 
begin to get better ?" And the servants said, ' ' Yesterday, 
at the seventh hour, the fever left him entirely. " And the 
nobleman remembered that it was just that hour when 
Jesus, far away, had told him his son was healed. 

The reason why Jesus could cure so quickly diseases that 
no doctors could cure, was because 

GOD THAT MADE OUR BODIES WAS IN HIS SOUL. 

To-day, although Jesus no longer walks in our streets so 
that we can see him, yet the same God who was in the 
heart of Jesus, and could heal men's bodies because he 
made them at the first, heals most of our diseases to-day. 
When you get a little scratch on your hand, not enough for 
the doctor to come, after a few days it gets well of itself. 
God has made it well by something he has put into the air 
and into our flesh to make it heal. Even when the doctors 
come, they can only help God in making us well. If a 
bone is broken, doctors fasten it close together where it is 
broken ; then God makes it grow one again. If there is a 



JESUS HEALING SICK CHILDREN. 185 

big gash in the flesh, the doctors sew it together, and then 
i God makes new flesh to grow. So we ought to remember 
the words which God gave to the people a great many years 
ago — " I am the Lord that healeth thee." 
But there are other 

DISEASES WORSE THAN SCRATCHES 

and broken bones and fevers and being crazy. There are 
three diseases of the mouth — lying, swearing and drinking 
intoxicating liquors. There are diseases of the heart, called 
anger, hatred, pride and jealousy. There are diseases of 
the hand, called stealing and fighting. Doctors cannot 
heal these diseases. We have to ask God to cure them, 
and then help him do it. One man, who often got angry 
and said bitter words that he was sorry for afterward, was 
cured of this awful disease by praying every time he found 
he was getting angry, ' ' Lord Jesus, calm my troubled 
spirit." Another man cured this disease of anger by think- 
ing, whenever he found himself getting into a passion, how 
calm and forgiving Jesus was when people wronged him by 
insulting words or harmful deeds. When you are tempted 
to use angry words or strike angry blows, stop and think, 
"Jesus wouldn't do it." The best way to cure anger, and 
hatred, and jealousy, and pride, and all these sins of the 
heart, is to pray that God will give us a new heart — patient, 
kind, lowly — like the heart of Jesus. Our actions will all 
be right if our hearts are right. If we love God and all 
that is good, in our hearts, we shall not fight or steal with 
our hands, or swear or lie with our lips. 

Let me tell you how one little boy, who had the terrible 
disease drunkenness, was cured by the help of Jesus. 

A Christian lady had collected a lot of wild street-boys 
into a class, and was trying to teach them, when one day 
she noticed that one of them had fallen asleep and begun 
to snore. 



186 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

"he's DRUNK," 

said his ragged little companions, laughing. Of course 
there was no use in trying to do anything with him then, 
but three days afterward she saw and questioned him. 

" Yes, I was drunk ; that's a fact," said Johnny, as frank 
as could be. "I didn't mean to let yer see me, 'cause I 
kind o' love yer, but I couldn't help it." 

" Why, Johnny, you shouldn't say so. You could help 
it." 

" Xo ; yer see I've got so used to it I can't stop." 

" 0, I am so sorry ! What was it that ever made you 
begin to drink V 

" I learnt it when I runned errands for Mike Dooley, 
down in Willard Street. He keeps a liquor store, and he 
gin me the rum and sugar in the bottoms of the glasses for 
my pay." 

"Johnny, it would be terrible to have you die a drunk- 
ard. I can't bear to think of it. Won't you try to give up 
drinking, if I'll tell you how you can ?" 

Johnny thought a minute. " I don't b'lieve I could. 
I've got so used to 't, you see. If I go without, I feel so 
gone here " (putting his hand on his stomach). 

There were tears in the gentle teacher's eyes. Johnny 
looked up and saw them, and was touched. He began to 
reconsider. 

" I — I donno but I'd try, if I thought 'twould make you 
feel better." 

"God bless you, Johnny ! Do you give me your hand 
on it, and say you'll stop drinking, honest and true ?" 

There was a pretty long pause then. Johnny was mak- 
ing a mighty effort. " Yes'm," he said ; and he drew a 
long breath. " I'll promise never to drink no more liquor, 
for your sake." 

" It ought to be for Jesus' sake, Johnny." 



JESUS HEALING SICK CHILDREN. 187 

" Could he make me keep my promise ? You ask him, 
can't you ?" 

Hardly sure of the boy's meaning, the question was so 
unexpected, the teacher nevertheless knelt immediately. 
Johnny knelt, too, and when she had prayed, he said he 
guessed he would " ask Him himself." 

1 ' Lord Jesus up in heaven, please help a little feller as 
wants ter be good, and don't never let him drink rum no 
more. Amen." 

That was Johnny's prayer. And he meant it. All his 
conduct since has proved how truly in earnest the poor lit- 
tle street-boy was when he asked the Lord to help him 
keep a promise made to his teacher, "'cause he kind o' 
loved her." He is living in a good situation in the coun- 
try, and bids fair to grow up a conscientious, upright man. 

Just as a physician feels of your pulse and looks at your 
tongue, to see if you have any disease, so let us think about 
our hearts and acts, and see if there be any wicked way in 
us — v/icked thoughts, wicked words, wicked deeds — that 
we need to ask Jesus to cure. We shall all find something 
wrong, and then we can hurry to Jesus in prayer, feeling 
sure that when he was so kind in healing the sick bodies of 
children when he was on earth, he will cure all our wrongs 
to-day of thought and word and deed. 

" The great Physician now is near, 
The sympathizing Jesus. 
He speaks, the drooping heart to cheer ; 
O hear the voice of Jesus." 



Bible Link— Jesus heals one of the deaf and dumb — Matt. 15. 29- 
31 ; Mark 7. 31-37. Jesus feeds more than four thousand people 
with seven loaves and a few small fishes — Matt. 15. 32-39 ; Mark 
8. 1-10. The Pharisees wish to see signs and wonders— Matt. 16. 
1-4 ; Mark 8. 11, 12. Jesus warns his friends of evil men— Matt. 
16. 4-12 : Mark 8. 13-21. 



SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



FEEDING OF THE FOUR THOUSAND. 

Br Rev. B. T. VINCENT, Philadelphia. 

[Mark 8. 1-21.] 

Here is a golden chain of five links. It reaches from 
suffering hunger to bountiful supply. It fastens a needy- 
people to a rich Friend. It leads lost sinners to a mighty 
Saviour. We must study it, as showing how he will sup- 
ply our need — for our bodies when we ask him, and it is 
good for us ; and for our souls when we trust him and do 
his will. Now see as you study how useful every link in 
this chain is, and how it would be impossible to do with- 
out a single one of them. 

1. Compassion. Jesus saw the hungry people, and be- 
cause he was God, and had made the wonderful machinery 
of the body, he knew what pain came with hunger. But 
he knew, too, because he was a man and had felt it him- 
self ; for you remember how in the wilderness he was hun- 
gry, and though he could turn the stones into bread, yet 
he would not, for he came on earth to suffer as Ave do, that 
he might have sorrow with us in our sorrow ; and there is 
no sufferer in all the wide world for whom he is not sorry. 

But he had a greater reason for being sorry for men 
than because of their bodily hunger, as we see in this les- 
son, when the Pharisees came out to him with their wicked 
unbelief ; for them he sighed deeply. Think of how your 
ugly tempers and envies and pride give him pain, too ; for 
these are worse than bodily hunger. Think how deep his 
pain for us is ! Like as a great engine shakes the little 
building it is in, so this Divine love made this human soul 
to sigh. And afterward, when he was upon the cross, the 
Divine sympathy did break the human heart ! Such is his 



FEEDING OF THE FOUR THOUSAND. 189 

pitying love ; and this is the first link in this wonderful 
saving chain. 

2. Loaves and Fishes. JNow he could have made bread 
to fall from heaven as in the wilderness it fell when the 
Israelites were hungry and had nothing. But this could 
be only wisely done when there was no other way. This 
time there was another way, because the disciples had 
seven loaves and a few little fishes ; not more than a single 
little lad could carry, for one did carry almost as much in 
another case where four thousand were fed with five loaves 
and two fishes. 

Xow we would have thought, since this was not more 
than enough for a few people, that Jesus would not have 
bothered with it, but just have fed the people in his own 
way. He did do it in his own way ; and that way was to 
take what they had and make it enough. .So God does in 
nature when he makes a great harvest grow out of the lit- 
tle seeds ; but he does not bring the harvest without the 
seeds. So it is with whatever we may have of knowledge 
and love and will. We may want much of all to make 
ourselves good and great ; but we might pray a thousand 
years to God to give us much, and yet he would not so long- 
as we had a little knowledge and a little love and a little 
will which we would not bring out and give to him to be 
used in the answer to our prayer. You remember the old 
fable in which Hercules said to the carter, • ' Put your own 
shoulder to the wheel ; Hercules helps them who help 
themselves." And then his cart came out of the mud. 

And we must remember, too, that there is no getting 
great things done unless we are ready to begin in a small 
way, as in the use of the little bread and fish toward the 
feeding of four thousand. We must bring out our best, 
little and weak though it may be. The second link in the 
helpful chain. 

3. Blessing. But suppose we do use the little we have ; 



190 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

it will soon be used up, and that will be the end of it. 
These seven loaves and few fishes would only have fed a 
half-dozen hungry people, and the thousands remained as 
hungry as before. Ah, there was another thing to be done 
of great importance. This food was to come under the 
hand of Jesus. God was to be thanked for it, and to be 
owned as the giver of it, and to be asked to make it worth 
something. An old book of the Jews, called the Talmud, 
says : " He that enjoys aught without thanksgiving is as 
though he robbed God." If this be true (and it seems 
true), we are thieves if we do not confess him in all we 
have and in all we do. Let us remember this when we sit 
at the table and eat our bountiful meals. 

But the value of anything is so dependent upon this 
blessing, that it is more strange still that anybody will fail 
to secure the blessing. The force of all little things lies in 
their connections, as when you look at a match, the little 
splinter does not seem to be worth much ; but when you 
find it can, by being lighted, connect a train of powder 
with a mine of gold down in the earth somewhere, vou 
say, "Blessed little match ! you will make me rich." So 
the delicate little finger that touched the keys of the elec- 
tric currents which started the powder that blew up the 
rocks in the East River, Xew York, some years ago, was not 
much of a finger, until it was found what connections with 
great force it could make. A little seed is nothing until 
you think of earth and sunshine and rain, and then it is 
blessed with the promises of a hundredfold. So thus we 
bring our knowledge, and love and wills, and find out how 
they may be connected with great power. Jesus says this 
boy or this girl may be somebody — then it is that we are 
ready for great deeds. One of the early kino-s in England, 
when in battle, ordered the praying monks among his 
enemies to be killed, saying, ' ' Bear they arms against us 
or no ; they war against us, when they cry against us to 



FEEDING OF THE FOUR THOUSAND. 191 

their God." So does prayer make our little mighty. Thus 
the learning of the Pharisees did them no good while the 
weak disciples kept close to Jesus, and their weakness was 
made strength. This is the third link in this beautiful 
chain. 

4. Work. Little things, even when blessed, arc nothing 
until put into action. The loaves and fishes only grew 
when the disciples began to distribute them to the multi- 
tude. Then as they broke off piece by piece there was 
still enough in their hands to go on breaking and giving un- 
til all the people were filled. The match is nothing but a 
' * blessed " splinter till you strike it ; then it makes you 
rich. The little finger is beautiful, as blessed ; but only 
blows up the rocks when it presses the key. The seed is 
nothing until you give the sun and rain and earth a chance 
at it. The farmer cuts up a potato into three or four 
pieces and plants them, and each answers with a whole 
mess of royal fellows for baking and eating. 

So, always, work must follow hope, and hope will end in 
the joy of possession. Our knowledge, blessed, must be 
used, and it will grow ; our little love must start out to 
win its way, and we shall be strong in love ; our little wills 
that shrink from duty often, must be exercised, and soon 
we shall be heroes in the battle of life, never shrinking, 
never failing. 

But we must work under command, as the disciples dis- 
tributed the bread and fish. It may seem foolish to us 
as that might have seemed foolish to them. But that is 
none of our business. Once, on the Hudson River R. R., 
a station agent received telegraphic orders to turn a switch 
which would throw a coming freight train into the river ! 
He did it without asking any questions. Now, though 
strange to him, it was right, for some escaped convicts 
from Sing Sing Prison had gotten on that engine and 
loosened it from the train, and were coming down the road 



192 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

with it. The superintendent ordered the switch turned to 
give them what they deserved, and to save a coming pas- 
senger train from being run upon. We cannot tell wheth- 
er orders are right or not ; but if God gives them we 
must obey, for they must be right. When you start into a 
mountain road, it looks as though a hundred yards would 
end it ; but go that distance and another hundred yards 
will appear, and so on until you reach the top. So when 
the handful of food has been given, the hand will be found 
full again, if God gives the order to distribute. 

Thus go to work, weak and little though you are, and 
with the little that you have ; and this is the fourth link in 
this great chain. 

5. Plenty. This comes out of little through blessing 
and work. The multitude were filled, and still there were 
left seven baskets of fragments ! How wonderful was all 
this ! And yet not wonderful, when you remember that it 
was God who did it. It was he who fed Israel with manna 
and quails ; who kept the widow's cruse of oil and barrel 
of meal from failing when she fed the prophet Elijah ; who 
made the little pot of oil to fill many vessels at the com- 
mand of Elisha ; and who made this same prophet able to 
•feed a hundred men with twenty barley loaves. And it 
was he who fed the five thousand with five loaves and two 
fishes ; and indeed what has he not done in wondrous love 
and power ? 

To you and to me he promises like wonders if we trust 
his love, bring to him what we have, secure his blessing up- 
on it, and go to work to use it. All our powers will thus 
bring forth abundantly. We can overcome sin in our- 
selves ; we can make ourselves wise and loving and strong ; 
we can do good even among the worst of people, and 
make them good and happy. 

But we must not seek this power for low motives, as the 
Pharisees sought after a sign, nor as the disciples after- 



SEEING AND CONFESSING JESUS. 193 

ward seemed to think more of the loaves and fishes than of 
the truth. But we must ask for power that we may do his 
will and honor him in blessing the world. Then will he 
do mighty things for us, and hj us, for others. And this 
is the fifth link in this mighty chain. 

Now notice that, of these links, three are divine, and 
two, only, are human ; and remember that the three are 
very long and the two very short ; but do not forget 
that the three without the two would be no chain at all. 
So, too, though Jesus loves and pities, we are to bring our 
little to him that he may bless it ; then we must work 
with it, as blessed, before the plenty shall come. Then 
shall we be able to eat of the bread of life ourselves, and 
be honored with the privilege of handing it to other hun- 
gry souls, that they may be filled. 



Bible Link— Jesus cures blindness — Mare 8. 22-36. Peter's words 
about Jesus— Matt. 16. 13-20 ; Mark 8. 27-30 ; Luke 9. 18-21. 
Jesus foretells his sufferings— Matt. 16. 21-28 ; Mark 8. 31-33. 



SEEING AND CONFESSING JESUS. 

By Rev. A. F. SCHAUFFLER, New York. 

[Mark 8. 22-33.] 

Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. — Matthew 
16. 16. 

Our lesson to-day contains two stories — one about a man 
who saw Jesus, and one about a man who confessed that 
Jesus was the Son of God. It seems that once when Christ 
was travelling on foot from town to town, he came to Betli- 
saida. There, some people brought to him a poor blind 
man. We do not know how lono- he had been blind. 



194 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Perhaps he was born blind. These good people knew that 
Jesus had the power to heal the man if he wanted to. 
When the Master saw the blind man, he took him by the 
hand, and led him out of the town. What do you sup- 
pose the poor man was thinking of, as Jesus led him by 
the hand ? I presume many thoughts arose in his mind, 
like these : " Why is he leading me so far away ? I won- 
der whether he will really heal me ? I wonder how he will 
cure me ?" When they were out of the city, Jesus spit on 
the man's eyes, and then gently touched them with his 
hands. He then asked the man whether he could see. The 
man looked up and said, " I can see men dimly, walking." 
So the Saviour again touched the man's eyes, and at once 
he saw everything as clearly as any man could. What a 
glorious experience that must have been ! What a joyful 
and thankful look that man must have taken on everything 
around him ! But, do you know, I think he must have 
loved most of all to look at the face of the One who had 
restored his eyesight to him. I presume, as Jesus looked 
at the man and he returned the glance, the Saviour smiled 
quietly with pleasure, and the man's heart overflowed with 
gratitude and joy. When this man went to his home, do 
you not suppose that all his friends were amazed to see the 
change that had come over him ? I am sure that house- 
hold was full of joy and gladness for many a day after 
that, because of the miracle that Jesus had performed. 

Did you ever long to see Jesus yourself ? Have you 
ever thought that you would like to see his kind face, and 
hear his gentle voice ? Has it ever made you sad to feel 
that he was no longer here on this earth as he used to be ? 
Well, although Ave cannot see him with our bodily eyes, 
we can still see him. Some one says, "How can we see 
him ?" I answer, God has given us three kinds of eyes. 
First, there are our bodily eyes, which we are all using this 
minute. Then, besides these, God has given us "mental 



SEEING AND CONFESSING JESUS. 195 

eyes," with which we can see a good many things. While 
I was telling you the story of the blind man, did you not 
seem to see what took place, almost as though you had 
been there yourself ? You did not see the events with 
bodily sight, but with your mental eyes. Then we have 
a third kind of eyes. We call them " spiritual eyes" It 
is with these spiritual eyes that we may look unto Jesus. 
When David prays to God and says, " Open thou mine 
eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law," 
he does not refer to his bodih r , but to his spiritual sight. 
When God says, ' ' Look unto me and be ye saved, all the 
ends of the earth," he refers to our inward spiritual eyes. 
If we want to see him, and find that our spiritual sight is 
very dim, we can pray and say ' ' Lord, that I might re- 
ceive my sight !" He will then help us to see him as our 
personal Saviour and our constant Friend, so that we can 
say, "whereas I was spiritually blind, now I see." 

Soon after Jesus had healed the blind man, he was one 
day walking along the dusty road with his disciples, when 
he asked them what men said about him. They answered 
that some thought he was John the Baptist risen from the 
dead, and some thought that he was Elijah come back to 
this world, and some thought he was a prophet. Then 
Christ asked them what they thought about him. At once 
Peter spoke up and said, ' ' Thou art the Christ. " What 
did Peter mean by this ? He meant to say that he be- 
lieved that Jesus was the Anointed One of God, whom God 
had sent to save sinners. St. Matthew tells us that when 
Peter had made this confession, Jesus told him that he 
never would have reached that truth unless God himself 
had revealed it to him. This was not the only time that 
the disciples confessed that Jesus was the Son of God. 
All their lives long they openly confessed him as the Son 
of God, who came to save the world. Because of this con- 
fession of theirs, they were persecuted, stoned, whipped. 



196 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

and many of them even killed. Still they were not 
ashamed to confess him as their Saviour. 

In this they set us a very good example. They only 
carried out the command of Jesus, who wants all who have 
" seen him" as their Saviour to confess it before the 
world. He says, " Whosoever shall confess me before 
men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the 
angels of God. But he that denieth me before men, shall 
be denied before the angels of God." Luke 12. 8, 9. How 
can we " confess Jesus V In two ways. We can confess 
him as our Saviour by our words and by our deeds. If we 
truly love him, we ought to confess it in our homes, by 
our words. We should tell our parents and friends at 
home what great things the Lord has done for us. We 
should also join the church of Christ, and there, before 
God and men, confess that we want to serve him all our 
lives long. Then we should prove by our deeds that our 
words arc true. He wants us to prove that we love him, 
by keeping his commandments. It will be useless to con- 
fess him with our lips while we refuse to obey him in our 
lives. That is hypocrisy, and God hates hypocrites. At 
the same time, if we try to live for him secretly and never 
in our lives say a word for his cause, we are not doing 
right. For the Bible says, ' ' with the heart man believeth 
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is 
made unto salvation." Rom. 10. 10. 

Do you want two good short prayers, that you can use 
in connection with this lesson ? I will give them to you. 
First, ask Jesus to open your eyes that you may see him, 
and then pray, " Open thou my lips, and my mouth shall 
show forth thy praise." 



THE BAD BARGAIN. 197 



Bible Link— Jesus urges self-denial — Mark 8. 33-38 ; 9. 1. 



THE BAD BABGAIN. 

By Rev. E. CORWIN, D.D., Racine, Wis. 

For what shall it profit a man, if he he shall gain the whole 
ivorld, and lose his own soul ? Or what shall a man give 
in exchange for his soul? — Mark 8. 36, 37. 

To hear some people talk, you would think that the 
chief end of man is to glorify himself by getting all the 
money he can, hoping and expecting to enjoy it forever. 
And yet, in a world where that is the answer which the 
daily life of so many gives to the first question of our 
Shorter Catechism, we every day see men making very 
bad bargains. They give away what is of great worth, and 
get back only worthless trash. You pity such a person 
and say, "It is too bad to be cheated in that way ;" or 
you despise him and say, " What a fool, to throw away a 
fortune and get back only a trifle !" Do you think a boy 
ever made a good bargain without being pleased, if not 
proud, of it ? And did one ever make a bad bargain and 
not feel sorry and ashamed ? 

Now if your father should see you just ready to make a 
very foolish trade — giving away what is worth more than 
ten thousand dollars for what is not worth ten cents — it 
would be kind in him to warn you against doing so silly a 
thing. It would be cruel in him not to cry out, "Stop, 
my child, and think what you are doing. What shall it 
profit you ? What real gain shall it be to get ten cents, if to 
get it you must lose ten thousand dollars ? Everybody 



198 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

would call you a fool, if to get so little you should giYe so 
much." Tell me, then, is it not very kind in your Father 
in heaYen, when He sees you about to make a far more 
foolish bargain than that, to cry out, ' ' Stop, my child ; 
stop and think, what shall it profit a man or a boy to gain 
the whole world, if to get it he must lose his own soul V 

I have known many a boy with as fair prospects in life 
as any of you, who threw them all away to secure some 
pleasure that was at best but for a moment ; and when at 
so great a loss he had secured it, it was not a real joy after 
all. He hated it because it cost so much. Go home and 
ask your father, and he will tell you he has known many a 
man who was such a fool as to make himself and all who 
loved him miserable, that he might selfishly satisfy an evil 
appetite that it would have made him noble and happy to 
conquer and crush out. Your father has known, if you 
have not, many a drunkard to waste houses and lands for 
what was worse than worthless, because it robbed him of 
his money, his senses, and his good name, and brought 
sorrow, shame, and ruin to his whole family. I have 
known a young man so given up to the dreadful vice of 
gambling, that in spite of his mother's tears and his father's 
many prayers, he not only wasted all he had already re- 
ceived from his rich parents, but he drew on all he hoped 
might come to him by and by. And so some who think 
themselves smart, shrewd men, are often so foolish as to 
waste not only all there is worth living for in this world, 
but they throw away all they hope for in the life to come. 
For that which is no real gain to them if they get it, they 
risk the loss, not of this short life alone, but of the endless 
life of joy that they might live after death. That was just 
what Christ meant when he talked to men about the dan- 
ger of losing the soul, giving them this short, simple sum 
to cipher out and think about. 

And don't you think it is just as bad for a child as for 



THE BAD BARGAIN. 199 

a man to make so bad a bargain ? The soul of the small- 
est child is worth more than a million of worlds. Yes, 
that soul of yours that can think great thoughts that reach 
further than the stars and run swifter than the lightning ; 
that soul of yours that is the most wonderful of artists, 
since in an instant it can paint the big dome of the sky 
all over with pictures that are the likeness of what is in 
your own mind. That soul of yours that in a moment 
can see the difference between right and wrong, and can 
think, when tempted, ' ' Thou God seest me :" that soul of 
yours which when the body dies is to live on forever : 
that soul, I say, is worth more than a million worlds. What 
gain then could it be to you or to anybody to lose such a 
soul, though this world were made of solid gold, and you 
might get it all ? That is the simple sum in " Profit and 
Loss " which many a money-king is working out. Think 
how little of this world's wealth the richest of them can 
get ; and then think for how short a time they can hold 
even that little. And yet for so small a part of this world, 
see how they fight like bulls and bears, as though money 
were all and the soul were nothing. What if, in the life 
to come, such men shall find themselves among the poor- 
est of the poor, because they lived only to get gold, and 
left the soul to starve and perish ? 

But it might not be so sad a thing to make a bad bar- 
gain if, after we have made it, we might always have a 
chance to take it back. Christ, the only Saviour of men, 
offers freely to save us now ; but he says nothing about 
giving us another chance to be saved in the life beyond. 
If we do not care to be saved now, we may not have the 
offer by and by. And so it is of a lost soul that it is said, 
" What shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" If 
once it is lost, how shall he ever buy it back ? Now is the 
accepted, the chosen time ; the time when you may accept 
Christ, and he is willing to accept you. Now is the day of 



200 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

salvation. This very day, if you will, you may be saved. 
But some of you may put it off till it is too late. What 
then would you not give to break a bad bargain, and to buy 
back a lost soul ? 

[Link and sermon on p. 208 should precede this.] 



Bible Link— Jesus casts out a dumb and deaf demon— Matt. 17. 
14-21 ; Mark 9. 14-29 ; Luke 9. 37-43. Jesus again foretells his 
sufferings— Matt. 17. 22, 23 ; Mark 9. 30-32 ; Luke 9. 43-45. Jesus 
works the miracle of the tribute money— Matt. 17. 24-27 ; Mask 
9. 33, first part. Jesus teaches humility— Matt. 18. 1-35 ; Mark 
9. 33-50 : Luke 9. 46-50. 



THE CHILD IN THE MIDST. 

By Rev. L. D. BEVAN, D. D., New York. 

And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them : and 
when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, 
Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, 
receiveth me : and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not 
me, but him that sent me. — Mark 9. 36. 

Jesus Christ was very fond of little children, and there 
are some very beautiful words in the history of our Lord 
about boys and girls, helping us to know what he thought 
about them, and what he wished them to be, and what he 
would like his servants to do for little children. In this 
passage we see that Christ took a little child and made the 
child to be a sort of text, and preached a short sermon to 
his disciples about some things which he wanted them to 
know. A very wise English poet speaks, in one of his 
lines, of ' ' sermons " found ' ' in stones. " Now, a little 
boy and a little girl have a great deal more in them than 
stones. So that we must not wonder if Jesus was able to 
find a text in a child, and that everybody may learn many 
lessons from little children. 

Now, the great point that I wish you to notice in this 



THE CHILD IN THE MIDST. 201 

passage of St. Mark, is the fact that Jesus made a child to 
be a lesson to the disciples ; and from this, all of you boys 
and girls may ask yourselves, whether you have that in 
your characters and conduct which would make it possible 
for Jesus to turn you into texts for sermons. And I am go- 
ing to ask you to find out with me what our dear Lord 
thought about children, or what the Bible tells us, in the 
light of the life and words of Jesus, little children ought 
to be. We shall not therefore talk about this text only, 
but, guided by the whole passage, I shall ask you to turn 
with me to some of the references to children that we can 
find in the life of Jesus, and thus gather the whole sermon 
that Jesus would preach about a little child which he might 
set in the midst of us, and from whom he would have us, 
like the disciples, learn lessons. We shall then see what 
was our Lord's idea of a little child. 

The first thing we learn is that Jesus was once a little 
child himself. If you will read the second chapter of 
Matthew, and the second chapter of Luke, you will see 
the story of the birth and earliest years of our Lord. He 
was a little baby in the cradle, and in his mother's arms. 
He was tender and helpless, and needed all care and 
attention, like any other little baby. He had to be pro- 
tected from those who would injure him. He had to be 
watched and nursed by the loving eye and hand of his dear 
mother Mary. And yet that little baby was the Son of 
God. Angels sang about him, and wise men came from 
far to see him. And the best people and the holiest peo- 
ple of the time were glad to take him in their arms, and 
felt that he was sacred and divine. 

Now, you must not think that all this was simply be- 
cause he was God's son, for he came into the world not 
only to live a good life and do great works and to die for 
our sins, but he came also that he might — by taking upon 
him every condition that men can be in — show how beau- 



202 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

tiful human life might be, how precious was every sort of 
human state, and that every person in his own special cir- 
cumstance might be taught the value of his life, because 
the Son of God had shared it. Hence, when we see a lit- 
tle baby, let us remember that Jesus was once a baby ; that 
it was possible for one little child to be not only his mother's 
child but also God's child ; and what was possible in his case 
is possible in every other case. Let us be gentle, then, and 
loving and helpful to little children, for Jesus was once a 
little child. 

Connected with the childhood of Jesus there is a passage 
which always seems to me to be very touching and sugges- 
tive. You will find it in Matthew 2 . 1 6-1 8. Herod wanted 
to kill the new-born Jesus ; and as he could not find out 
where he was, he gave orders that the little boys in Beth- 
lehem up to two years old should all be killed. He hoped 
that among them the ''King of the Jews" would be de- 
stroyed. And the wicked order was carried out. So it 
came about that the first people to suffer for the sake of 
Jesus were little babies. Sometimes we call Stephen the 
first martyr. It seems to me that the little infants of Beth- 
lehem who were murdered because of Jesus, were really 
the first martyrs. Hence the honor of first suffering in 
Christ's cause belongs to some little babies. We do not 
know their names, but we are sure they are all known in 
God's book. We cannot tell where were their homes. 
But they have all had glorious seats in heaven, and we 
cannot wonder that Jesus loved little children, and was kind 
to them, and spoke great and glorious words about them, 
and forever takes care of little babies, and gathers them in 
his bosom, and saves them all. So, whenever I see a little 
baby suffering, I always think of those who shed their blood 
in Bethlehem, and I am sure, even though I cannot see 
the special reason of the suffering, that it is in some way 
for Jesus' sake, and that he will take care to turn it all into 



THE CHILD IN THE MIDST. 203 

blessing ; and even should the clear little infant die, it will 
be only as a martyr — a witness for Christ — and it shall re- 
ceive the crown which Jesus gives to those who suffer for 
his sake. 

And what sort of a child did the little Jesus grow up to 
be ? Luke will tell you, if you turn to the fortieth verse of 
the second chapter, and read the passage on to the end of 
the chapter. As a little baby " he grew, and waxed strong 
in spirit, rilled with wisdom, and the grace of God was 
upon him." When a boy of twelve he went up to Jeru- 
salem, and when his parents missed him on their return 
from the feast, they went back to the city and found him 
in the temple among the wise and good men, " hearing them 
and asking them questions." And when his mother wanted 
to know why he had let them go away without him, he 
asked her if she did not know that he had to be about the 
business of his Father, that is, of God ; showing that even 
at that age he recognized the claim of religion, and was 
ready to do the work which God had given him. And 
then, finally, notwithstanding that he was a learned and a 
very wise boy — apparently even then knowing far more, and 
feeling far more deeply than even his mother could under- 
stand — he w r ent back to his home and was obedient to his 
parents, and there went on growing in wisdom and in stat- 
ure, and in favor with God and man. There we have, 
then, a beautiful picture of what a child should be. There 
is the growth of the body and the mind, and with that, the 
soul getting strong, and pure, and godly. The little boy 
loves God and serves him, and } T et he is gentle and orderly 
and submits to those who are appointed to be his teachers 
and his guides. You may learn here, that not only is a 
little baby a very precious thing because Jesus was a baby, 
but also a boy or a girl may serve God and ought to serve 
him, and Jesus set you the example and shows you how 
you may follow it. You will sometimes hear people talk 



204 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

about the God-man Jesus Christ. We must remember 
that there was also the God-child and the God-boy, and 
Jesus was this in order that our childhood and our boy- 
hood may become divine also. Jesus preached a sermon 
from a little child as a text. If Ave want to know what a 
child ought to be, in order that it might be the most fitting 
text, we must learn what the child Jesus was, and all, by 
God's help, try to be like him. 

Having seen what Jesus was as a child, let us now find 
out what he said about children. Please turn to your 
Bibles and find the tenth chapter of St. Mark's Gospel and 
the fourteenth verse, and there you will read that when 
the disciples rebuked some women, who were bringing 
their children to Jesus that he might bless them, that Jesus 
told the disciples not to prevent the women from coming, 
and added, ' ' suffer the little children to come unto me, and 
forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom of God." 
Here, then, our Lord gives a special right to boys and girls 
to come to him, and even adds that those who are to be 
the subjects of his kingdom must become like children. 
Now we know that he cannot here refer to the naughti- 
ness of the young, but to those qualities in children which 
make them sweet and beautiful. A little child is naturally 
and properly, truthful. It does not know how to conceal 
things. It is affectionate, ready to make friends, soon 
forgetting what is troublesome and painful. A little child 
can learn very quickly, and is teachable. A child is sim- 
ple and truthful and believes very early. Xow, these are 
the characteristics that are wanted by Christ in his king- 
dom, and it would be indeed a sad thing if little children, 
who are supposed to be like this naturally, did not possess 
these qualities. We should call it unnatural, and we should 
suppose that something very sad and dreadful had hap- 
pened to the soul of such an unchildlike child. To be 
selfish and greedy, and sulky and revengeful — to be un- 



THE CHILD IN THE MIDST. 205 

willing to learn, and to be very rough and to make a great 
deal of himself, and to be disobedient, and to be a liar, 
and to be untrusting and unloving — all these things would 
be contrary to childhood, such childhood as Jesus desired, 
such childhood as he said belonged to his disciples, such 
childhood as was that of the Lord himself. 

This teaches us then what children ought to be whom 
Christ invites to come to him. He will help them to be 
like this. It will be very easy for them to show these charac- 
ters, if they come to him. Hoav happy are the boys and 
girls who accept the invitation and obey the Lord ! 

And then, in our text we see how Jesus took a child and 
set him in the midst of them. Perhaps the little boy was 
frightened at first, for, it is added, that Christ "took him 
in his arms." I am quite sure that when the child looked 
up into that loving face, and felt that tender hold, and 
heard the loving words which the Lord would speak, he 
would lose all his fear, and nestle down upon the bosom of 
Christ, and be quite at his ease, even in the presence of 
those grave and serious disciples who were around him. 

And what was the lesson that Jesus taught when he 
took the child for his text ? The disciples had been con- 
tending with one another who should be first in the grand 
kingdom which they thought their Master was going to set 
up. So Jesus told them that if any man wanted to be 
first, he must be willing to be last, and to serve everybody. 
Honor in his kingdom was not like the honor of the 
world — where that man is reckoned most noble who has 
the largest number of people whom he can compel to serve 
him ; but that man is most noble, with the nobility of 
Jesus, who does most to help other people and thinks least 
about himself. Glory for the servant of Jesus Christ does 
not depend upon the magnificence and wealth, and splen- 
dor of the object that he seeks, but in the spirit with 
which he seeks it. That spirit must be the desire to serve 



206 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

and glorify Jesus Christ : so that if a man should be kind 
to such a little child as that which Christ had in his arms, 
for the sake of Jesus, it would be like being kind to Christ ; 
and that, Christ said further, was honor to God himself. 
And again, in the forty-second verse Jesus adds, that noth- 
ing could be a greater or more woful wickedness than to 
offend — that is, to make to fall, one of these little ones 
who believe in Christ. AVe learn, therefore, what value 
Jesus Christ set upon children. But then, remember, it 
was not simply because they were children, but because 
they were children who loved him and believed in him. I 
wonder whether some little boy or little girl would not be 
very glad and even proud to have had Christ notice them 
as he noticed this little fellow of whom our text speaks ? I 
am sure you all w T ould be. Ah ! then do not forget that 
such honor you each may now have ; for the child was 
noticed by Christ and used by Christ, because it believed 
in him ; and such belief every one of you may this very 
moment exercise, and so be reckoned among those blessed 
children whom Christ receives, and of whom the kingdom 
of heaven consist-. 

Time will nut allow me to refer to some other passages, 
but there is one that I must just mention before I close. 
You will rind it in St. Matthew 21. 15, 16. The children 
were crying out in the temple " Hosanna to the son of 
David. 1 ' They had probably seen the procession of the 
disciples and the people, wh<» had accompanied Jesus when 
he rode into the city upon the foal of an ass. They had 
been excited by the enthusiasm shown in the city by the 
crowds who were there gathered ; and when they were told 
that this man was the prophet whom they had been taught 
to expect, and indeed the son and heir of King David, they 
began to call out, ' f Hosanna ! Hosanna l" which was very 
displeasing to the Pharisees, and they complained to Jesus 
because he allowed the children to give him that jjreat and 



THE CHILD IN THE MIDST. 207 

sacred title. And Christ replied, "Have ye never read, 
Out of the month of babes and sucklings thou hast per- 
fected praise V (that is, God enables little children to ren- 
der to him the most fitting praise), so justifying and ac- 
cepting what these children said. Xow, is not that another 
good lesson for you boys and girls to learn ? We have 
seen what sort of children Jesus Christ would have you to 
be. Surely there is not one of you who will not be willing 
to serve him and possess the character he requires, when 
you know that G-od is most pleased with the hosannas that 
children can raise. For children to serve God, it is clear 
that he intends them to be happy, for people only cry 
hosanna when they feel very glad. If the life of the 
Christian child is a glad life, and if to be a Christian child 
gives great joy to God, then indeed there cannot be one 
of you who for your own sake and for the sake of God and 
Christ, will not be willing to serve God and love Jesus. 

I have sometimes wondered what became of this little 
boy whom Jesus took for a text, in order to preach a ser- 
mon to his disciples. What sort of a man did he grow 
up ? Was he a good man, perhaps one of the early 
preachers of the Lord, one of the planters of the gospel in 
the world ; or did he become a hater of Christ, opposing 
his truth and perhaps blaspheming his name \ We do not 
know._ Our curiosity is not satisfied. This little fellow just 
appears for a moment and then passes away, and we hear 
nothing more of him. We will at all events hope for the 
best, and trust that he grew up as if he were always in the 
arms of Jesus Christ. But, at least, of some of you, dear 
children, need we have any doubt. If you are only will- 
ing, and will trust and serve Jesus faithfully, you shall be 
always safe in his care and kept for his glory. Then it 
will be your honor not indeed to be placed in the midst of 
our Lord's apostles, that they might be rebuked and taught, 
but to be presented before them, and to be with them in 



208 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

that glory and happiness which they have received from 
their Master, and which he will give to all those who are 
his faithful servants, in the heavenly kingdom of God. 



Bible Link — Jesus is transfigured so that his face shines like the 
sun— Matt. 17. 1-13 ; Mark 9. 2-13 ; Luke 9. 28-36. 



THE TRANSFIGURATION". 

By Rev. L. D. BEVAN, D.D., New York. 
Mark 9. 2-10. 

This passage contains the narrative of what we call 
" the Transfiguration of our Lord." It is one of the most 
wonderful incidents in his life, and you must notice, first of 
all, how very short the story is. The Bible does not say 
a great deal about the most important events of the life of 
Jesus Christ, if they are also very strange and out of the 
common. It is not like other books, which dwell long 
upon extraordinary events, and give a great many details, 
for God's Word was written not that you might be sur- 
prised, and marvel, and grow very curious, but that you 
may believe in Jesus Christ, who is the chief subject of all 
Holy Scripture. 

And then you will see that the transfiguration of Jesus 
was not seen by everybody. All the disciples even, were 
not allowed to behold the exceeding glory. I suppose, all 
were not fit for it, or perhaps these three who saw it de- 
served some special favor more than the others, or we were 
to learn that God does give some peculiar blessings to some 
men which others do not receive, although all men can have 
the salvation of their souls, if they will accept it from God. 

These three were the peculiar friends of Jesus Christ. 
He took them with him when he raised the daughter of 
Jairus from the dead. They accompanied him to the gar- 



THE TRANSFIGURATION. 209 

den of Gethseniane, and it was these who were with him 
when he was transfigured. 

You see where they went. " Up into a high mountain, 
apart by themselves." We must sometimes go away froin 
the places where we meet men, and carry on the duties of 
every-day life. We must leave the world a long way be- 
neath us, that either alone or in company with a few 
friends who think and feel as we do, we may seek for 
some special sign of G-od's grace, something that will make 
us very happy, and help us when it is all over to be better 
servants of Christ, and more able to do good to our fellow- 
men. It need not be a high mountain, for we cannot al- 
ways go to a high mountain. It need not be a lonely for- 
est, for perhaps we live in a crowded city. It need not be 
by the side of the sea, for our life may be spent far away 
inland. But we can find some quiet place in our own 
chambers, or in some room in the church. The place does 
not matter much. The great thing is to have Jesus Christ 
with us, and then we may be sure that we shall have some 
great blessing, and Jesus Christ will always be with us if 
we ask him, for he has given that promise to all those who 
love and seek him. 

I dare say you would like to know what the transfigura- 
tion was like. We can only tell what Scripture has said. 
The face of Jesus became very bright. It shone like the 
sun. And the clothes of Jesus glistened most gloriously. 
I suppose, as if they had been made of the finest silver 
thread, and spangled all over with the purest diamonds. 
You have seen the snow just after it has fallen, when the 
sun has come out and shone upon it. It sparkles and 
shines and glistens so that you can hardly look at it. The 
clothes of Jesus, Mark tells us, were like that snow. 

And what made him to be thus transfigured \ I do not 
think that it was any glory from outside shining upon 
him. It was the o-lory that was in Jesus Christ, which 



210 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

burst out through the body which as a man he possessed, 
and filled the disciples with such wonder and astonish- 
ment. For you know that the Son of God dwelt in 
human flesh in Jesus Christ, and the body which men 
saw, who lived when Christ lived, and knew him, was a 
sort of veil hiding the glory which he really possess- 
ed. God has given us eyes to see with, and we see very 
many beautiful and wonderful objects in the world. But 
we see only a very small part of what there is really in the 
universe. We could not bear to look upon everything that 
God has made, in the light which God could make to shine 
upon it. And so Jesus Christ covered with his body the 
beautiful light and the heavenly glory which always shine 
from his divine person. But at the transfiguration this 
light, like the shining of a candle through the sides of a 
lanthorn, broke through the body of Jesus and astonished 
and almost overwhelmed the disciples who saw it. How 
glorious it would be to see Jesus Christ like that ! AVho 
would not be glad to be allowed such a sight ! And yet I 
am afraid some of you are not getting ready to see the 
light of Christ's glory, which we are promised by God we 
shall see if we will believe in him and love him and serve 
him. In heaven, Jesus is always shining in a glory greater 
even than that of his transfiguration, and if you will be his 
dear children, you shall all see that glory, and be very glad 
to be always in its presence. 

But the disciples did nut only see their Lord transfigured. 
There came two persons out of the world of spirits, and 
they talked with Christ. They were Moses and Elias, or 
Elijah. Moses was the founder of the religion of the 
Jews, who gave them their laws, and told them how they 
were to serve God. Elijah was the greatest prophet who 
had ever appeared to the people and spoke to them in the 
name of Jehovah. Of course, they had died and passed 
away from earth many many years before. Moses died artd 



THE TRANSFIGURATION. 211 

God buried hiin, no body knew where. Elijah did not die, 
but was taken up to heaven, God thus showing how good 
and great a man he was. And now they were sent back 
to the earth, that they might speak to Jesus, and that we 
might know that the great work which each of them did 
upon earth was in some way to prepare for the greater 
work of our Lord, and also that we might learn that the 
salvation of man by Jesus Christ was something so impor- 
tant that even the blessed dead, the glorified spirits of the 
unseen world, were interested in it. For if you will turn to 
the account of the transfiguration given by St. Luke, you 
will see that the two spirits from heaven and Jesus Christ 
were talking about the death which Jesus was about to die 
in Jerusalem. It was surely then the most important thing 
in the world, for heavenly beings when they returned to 
earth would not converse upon anything but that which 
was of greatest moment. And yet there are some people 
who think very little, or even nothing at all, about Jesus 
Christ's death. We may be sure that if Moses and Elijah 
and Jesus made that death the subject of their talk, we 
ought to think about it, and learn what it means, and find 
out whether it is not of the most vital importance to our- 
selves. 

And perhaps there is another lesson which we may learn 
here. \Ye think sometimes that heaven is very far away from 
us, and what we call the world of spirits is quite beyond 
our reach. Xot at all. It is close by. It is all around 
us, and if God willed it, he could show us in a moment 
all the glories of that wonderful life to which he has taken 
those who have died. And you see, they are interested in 
things of the earth, if Jesus Christ has anything to do with 
these things. His death, from which we get our salva- 
tion, is a matter that the blessed dead think about ; and 
surely our salvation and our good life, which springs from 
the death of Jesus, will therefore be interesting to those we 



212 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

love, who are gone before us to be with God. Fathers and 
mothers, and brothers and sisters and friends, who have 
died, do not forget us ; and I do not think that they are 
parted from us by any very great distance. If Moses and 
Elijah could come and talk with Christ, perhaps our living- 
ones may come and watch, and, may be, help us too. At 
all events, we will think of them very tenderly and softly, as 
if they were close by, and live always as if we were in the 
presence and under the eye of the holy and the happy dead. 
Then came the greatest wonder of all. A cloud over- 
shadowed them, and the disciples heard a voice out of the 
cloud which said, " This is my beloved son ; hear him." 
Whose voice do you suppose that was \ Why, of course, 
the voice of God. How awful must that place have seem- 
ed then to Peter and James and John ! As if it were not 
enough that they should see the glory of Jesus, and the 
saintly forms of the great lawgiver and the holy prophet ; 
but that there should be the further witness to the truth 
and the claim of Jesus, namely, the voice of God himself. 
It was only a short sentence that God spake. One declara- 
tion and one command. The declaration was that Christ 
was His beloved son, and the command was, " Hear him." 
Let that then be the closing lesson and appeal of my words 
to you. It is not I who tell you that Christ was God's son. 
It is not Moses and the prophets that proclaim the Saviour 
to you. It is not Peter and John and James who as 
apostles preach the gospel. But it is God himself. He 
says that Jesus is His beloved son. God himself commands 
you to hear Jesus. Then surely you will honor him as the 
Son of God. You will give the answer of your love to 
Him who kept not back even the Son whom He loved so 
much ; and when Jesus speaks you will listen and learn, 
and trust him. Then you, too, will see a glory of the 
dear Lord's as much greater than the glory which the 
apostles saw upon the mountain of Transfiguration, as that 



THE RESURRECTION. 213 

glory was itself greater than the usual human appearance 
of Jesus Christ. 



Bible Link — Seventy disciples are sent out to preach and work mii-- 
aeles — Luke 10. 1-16. Jesus goes to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tab- 
ernacles — John 7. 2-53. A woman taken in adultery is brought 
to Jesus — John 8. 2-11. Discourses of Jesus — John 8. 12-59. A 
blind man healed — John 9. 1-41 ; 10. 1-21. The seventy disciples 
return and report what they have done — Luke 10. 17-21. The 
story of the good Samaritan— Luke 10. 25-37. The disciples are 
again taught how to pray — Luke 11. 1-13. Jesus heals a woman 
who has been an invalid for eighteen years— Luke 13. 10-21. What 
Jesus said in reply to the question, Are there few that be saved ? — 
Luke 13. 22-35. Jesus eats with a Pharisee — Luke 14. 1-24. Jesus 
speaks of the difficulties of a Christian life — Luke 14. 25-35. Jesus 
speaks of his work for those who are very sinful — Luke 15. 1-32. 
The story of the unjust steward — Luke 16. 1-31. Jesus instructs 
his disciples — Luke 17. 1-10. A Samaritan village refuses food to 
Jesus — Luke 17. 11 : 9. 51-56. 



Bible Link — Jesus heals seven lepers — Luke 17. 12-19. Teachings 
of Jesus— Luke 17. 20-37 ; 18. 1-14. Jesus is received by Martha 
and Mary at their home in Bethany — Luke 10. 38-42. Jesus keeps 
a feast at Jerusalem— John 10. 22-39. Jesus goes to Bethany be- 
yond Jordan — (John 1. 28), John 10. 40-42. Jesus raises his friend 
Lazarus from the dead — John 11. 1-54. 



THE RESURRECTION. 

By Rev. RICHARD NEWTON, D.D., Philadelphia. 

I am the Resurrection. — John 11. 25. 

These words were spoken by Jesus to Martha, the sister 
of Lazarus, whom Jesus loved. He generally made his 
home at their house in Bethlehem, when he was at Jeru- 
salem. Lazarus was dead, and had been buried four days 
before. But Jesus was going to raise him from the dead. 
How he did this we saw in our last sermon. And now he 



214 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

wished to comfort Martha by telling her that he had the 
power to raise the dead. This was what he meant when 
he said, " I am the Resurrection." The resurrection means 
raising the dead to life again. Jesus wished Martha to 
know that he had the power to do this. And he proved 
the truth of what he said directly after. For he went with 
the weeping sisters, Martha and Mary, to the grave of their 
dead brother. " It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 
Jesus said, ' Take ye away the stone.' " Some of the men 
rolled it away. There is the open cave. We can look in 
and see the dead man lying there. The Jews did not use 
coffins as we do. They simply wrapped their dead in 
grave-clothes. Jesus stands by the open grave, and says, 
in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth !" And in a mo- 
ment the dead man starts into life, and walks forth from 
the grave. How well Jesus might say, "/ am the Resur- 
rection /" 

And he was not only the resurrection to others — as to 
Lazarus, to the daughter of Jairus, and to the widow's 
son at Nain — but he was the resurrection to himself also. 
He said to the Jews, when speaking of his own life : " Xo 
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I 
have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it 
again" (John 10. 18). And so, though after he had been 
put to death on the cross and was buried, death could not 
keep him. On the morning of the third day he restored 
himself to life. He rose from the dead by his own power. 
He was the resurrection to himself. He came forth from 
the grave to die no more. As the apostle says, "Death 
hath no more dominion over him." And from the very 
earliest times large proportions of the Christian church 
have kept Easter Sunday as a glad festival, in memory of 
the resurrection of Jesus. And we may well rejoice when 
we think that Jesus has risen from the dead. For, if 
Jesus had not risen, we should never rise. But when 



THE RESURRECTION. 215 

Jesus rose from the dead and came forth from the grave, 
he proved that he had power to raise you and me, and all 
of us, from the grave. And this is what he meant when 
he said, " I am the Resurrection.'' 1 He intended we should 
learn from this that he has the power which is necessary to 
enable him to raise all the dead to life again, and that he 
will do this when the time comes that God has fixed for it. 
Every grave will one day be opened, and every dead per- 
son be made alive again. What Jesus wants us to know is 
that he has the power to do this. And this is what he 
teaches us when he says, "I am the Resurrection." And 
so we may well say, in the language of the Apostles' Creed, 
" I believe in the resurrection of the dead.'''' 

In this sermon we are called upon to look at the beauty 
of the King's work, as it is seen in the resurrection. 

It is not the resurrection of Jesus that we are now to 
speak about, but our own resurrection — the resurrection of 
all people ; or, as we say, the general resurrection. There 
are two thoughts about the resurrection to be remembered, 
and in both of these we shall see the beauty of the King's 
work. 

The first thought to be remembered in connection with 
the resurrection is — that it is very certain. 

And there are two things which show how certain it is. 
One of these is what God teaches us about it outside of the 
Bible, and the other what he teaches us about it inside of 
the Bible. Outside of the Bible God speaks to us, and 
teaches us many important things. The world of nature 
around us is like a great book, in which God is speaking to 
us all the time. And there are many things here that 
seem to speak to us of the resurrection. Day and night 
speak to us about it. "When evening comes and the sun 
sets in the west, then it may be said that the day dies. 
Night is the grave in which the day is buried. And when 



216 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

the sun rises again in the morning, it is the resurrection of 
the day. 

And then the seasons of the year speak to us about the 
resurrection. In the spring-time the year is young. In 
summer the year is of age. In autumn the year grows old. 
In winter it dies. Winter is the grave in which the year 
is buried. And when spring comes back again, it brings 
the resurrection of the year. Then the trees begin to bud, 
and put forth their fresh leaves ; " the flowers appear upon 
the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the 
voice of the turtle is heard in the land." And in all these 
things God speaks to us about the resurrection. 

The insects speak to us about the resurrection. Here is 
a caterpillar. He spends his days in going about as a 
creeping thing. But when he comes to be an old cater- 
pillar, and his crawling days are over, he weaves for him- 
self a cocoon, which is like a little coffin. Then he lies 
down to take a long sleep. It seems as if he was dead. 
He remains there awhile, like a body that has been buried 
in the grave. But after a long time has passed by, that 
coffin opens, and the worm, or caterpillar, that seemed to 
be dead, comes out from its little coffin wondrously changed. 
It is turned into a butterfly. And no king upon his throne 
was ever so beautifully dressed as he is now. Look at his 
wings. Did you ever see such brilliant colors ? How they 
glitter in golden glories as he flits about in the beams of 
the sun ! And so every butterfly that we see in the bright 
summer days, is a little minister that God sends to preach to 
us about the resurrection. 

The frogs speak to us on this subject. Suppose we make 
a visit to the frog pond. There are plenty of frogs in it, 
and we hear them in different keys, uttering their hoarse, 
loud sounds, and singing bass. This is the part they take 
in the great hymn which nature is always singing to the 
glory of God. When winter comes they disappear. But 



THE RESURRECTION. 217 

tliey cannot fly as the birds do, to find a warmer climate 
till the cold weather is over. And so, in His goodness, 
God provides them with convenient and comfortable win- 
ter quarters in the pond where they live. They go to the 
bottom of the pond and bury themselves in the mud. 
There they remain, without either sense or feeling. It 
seems like sleep, or more like death, only they do not de- 
cay, as dead things do. In this state they remain all win- 
ter. And now spring returns. The weather grows plea- 
sant again. Some mild day in early spring we have a warm 
rain, and there is thunder with the rain. As the loud peals 
of thunder are heard sounding through the sky, like the 
archangel's trumpet of the last day, they wake up the frogs 
from their death-like sleep, and then the croaking for 
another season begins again. And so, when we hear the 
familiar sounds they make, we may well say that God is 
making use of the hoarse voices of the frogs to speak to us 
of the resurrection. 

These are some of the ways in which God speaks to us 
about the resurrection, outside of the Bible. 

But it is in the Bible that he speaks most plainly to us 
on this subject. Nothing in the world is more certain than 
that Jesus rose again from the dead. But God tells us that 
it is just as certain we shall rise from the dead, as it is that 
Jesus did rise. If you wish to read what God says on this 
subject, you will find it in the fifteenth chapter of the first 
Corinthians, from the twentieth to the twenty-second 
verse : "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become 
the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came 
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
alive.'''' When it says here "All shall be made alive," it 
means that all shall be raised from the dead. This makes 
the resurrection certain. This is enough to settle the mat- 
ter, if there was nothing else in the Bible about it. But 



218 SERMONS TO BOYS AND CIRLS. 

there is something else. There is one passage in which 
Jesus himself speaks about it. His words are so clear and 
so strong, that they should remove all doubt about the 
resurrection. I refer now to John 5. 28. Here Jesus 
says: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is com- 
ing in the which all that are in the [/raves shall hear the 
voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth." This is 
enough. This makes it so sure that nothing more need 
be said on this point. 

The other thought about the resurrection is that it will 

be VERY WONDERFUL. 

There will be many wonders about the resurrection. 
The change itself of a dead thing, no matter what it is, to 
a live one, must always be wonderful. Here, for example, 
is a walking-stick. It is dead and dry. These little marks 
upon it show where the branches were growing on it when 
it was alive. Now suppose, as I hold it in my hand, this 
dead stick should come to life again. Suppose that each 
of these places where the branches used to be should swell 
out and bud, and put forth leaves, and that the bark should 
begin to grow over the outside of this cane, and roots 
should spring out from the bottom of it, and from being a 
dead stick it should become at once a live young tree. 
How very wonderful this would be ! Or, supposing that 
you and I were walking together in a cemetery. We come 
to an open grave. AYe stand at the edge of the grave and 
look down. There is a coffin at the bottom of the grave. 
It was put there many years ago. The lid of the coffin has 
been taken off. The body in the coffin has turned to dust. 
Only the bones of the skeleton remain in the coffin. There 
they lie just as they were left when the moldering flesh fell 
from them. Every bone is in its place. But they are all 
loose. There is nothing to hold them together. But sup- 
pose that, while we are looking at it, the sinew-, or strings, 
that once bound those bones together, should come back 



THE RESURRECTION. 219 

and bind them to each other again. And then suppose 
that we should see the flesh begin to grow all over those 
bones. Then the skm conies and covers the flesh. The 
hair grows out on the head. The mouth, the nose, the 
ears, the eyes are in their proper places. And inside the 
body is the breast, with all its wonderful contrivances. It 
begins to beat again. The lungs begin to breathe. The 
bosom rises and falls. The paleness of death leaves the 
cheeks, and the rosy hue of health takes its place. The 
eyes open. The man rises to his feet and leaps out of the 
grave a strong, hearty, living man. How verv wonderful 
this would be. To see one such change as this would be 
wonderful. But at the time of the resurrection there will 
be not one, nor a few such changes, but hundreds, and 
thousands, and millions of them. Every grave in all our 
crowded cemeteries will be opened then. No matter where 
any body has been buried, or whether it has been buried 
at all, it must rise from the dead. How many persons 
have been drowned in the depths of the sea ! How manv 
have been burned by fire, or devoured by wild beasts ! It 
makes no difference. G-od knows where to find all that 
belongs to every particular body, and how to make it alive 
again. It was easy for him to make our bodies all out of 
nothing in the beginning, and it will be easier for him to 
make them all out of something when he wants to do so. 
And when we think of this great change taking place in 
such multitudes of cases, we see how very wonderful the 
resurrection will be. 

And then the resurrection will be very wonderful, too, 
in the way of doing it. Some people are not willing to be- 
lieve in the resurrection, because they say it is a thing too 
hard to be done. Now, if you and I had to do it ; if all 
the men in the world, or all the angels in heaven, had to 
do it, this would be a good reason for not believing it. It 
would be too hard for us, and too hard for them. But the 



220 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

resurrection will be the work of God, and not of men or 
angels. The power of God is that by which it is to be 
done. And we know that ' ' nothing is too hard for the 
Lord." "All things are possible with him." Whatever 
he desires to do he can easily do. And when he begins 
this work of the resurrection, it will not take him long. 
The Apostle Paul tells us that it will be done "in a mo- 
ment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15. 52). When 
God made the world it was done at his word. ' ' God said, 
* Let there be light,"* and there was light" (Gen. 1. 3). 
David says : ' ' He spake, and it was done ; he commanded, 
and it stood fast" 1,1 (Ps. 33. 9). And so we are told that he 
will do this great work of the resurrection. God will send 
an archangel from heaven to sound a trumpet ; and while 
that trumpet is sounding the voice of God will be heard 
speaking to all that are in their graves. ' ' They will hear 
that voice, and will come forth." As St. Paul says : 
' ' The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised. " 
As Jesus stood by the grave of Lazarus, and called him 
back to life, so it will be just as if he were standing by 
your grave, and my grave, and every grave, calling each 
one by name, to come out from the grave. And every one 
called will come forth. How wonderful this will be ! 

And then the resurrection will be wonderful in the beauty 
that will mark the bodies of those who are raised. I can- 
not tell anything about the bodies of those who are not 
Christians. But, if we love Jesus, I can tell just how our 
bodies will look when they rise from the grave. Suppose 
that you and I were standing upon the top of Mount 
Tabor, if that was the place where Jesus was transfigured. 
Moses and Elijah have come down from heaven on a visit 
to him. Look, there is Jesus, sitting on a rock. And see 
what a change is taking place in his appearance ! His 
clothing becomes as white as snow — whiter than anybody 
on the earth could make it. His face becomes bright and 



THE RESURRECTION. 221 

shining, like the sun, only still more glorious. And this is 
the pattern according to which our bodies will be made at 
the resurrection ; for the apostle says he will "change our 
vile bodies, and make them like unto his own glorious body' 1 '' 
(Phil. 3. 25). And in another place we are told that 
"when he shall appear we shall be like hint" (1 John 3. 2). 
I suppose our bodies will be in size, and shape, and gene- 
ral appearance very much like what they are now, so that 
we shall know one another as easily as we do now, only all 
imperfections will be removed, and they will be made to 
look perfectly glorious. Suppose you have the image of a 
little man made of iron or clay, and suppose this image was 
changed to silver or gold. You could tell it in a moment, 
as soon as you saw it. And you would be ready to say : 
"Why, only look! here's my old clay image turned to 
gold ! How beautiful it looks !" And when we think how 
changed our bodies will be at the resurrection ; when we 
think what multitudes of these bodies there will be ; when 
we think of the wonderful way in which this change will 
be brought about, and of the great beauty that will mark 
them, we may well say, How wonderful the resurrection 
will be ! 

These are the two thoughts we should remember when 
we taint about the resurrection : It is very certain, and it 
will be very wonderful. And here we see the beauty of 
the King's work. 



222 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



Bible Link — Jesus is questioned about divorces — Matt. 19. 1-12 ; 
Mark 10. 1-12. Jesus blesses little children— Matt. 19. 13-15; 
Mark 10. 13-16 ; Luke 18. 15-17. 



CHRIST BLESSING LITTLE CHILDREN. 

By Rev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them 
not; for of such is the kingdom of God. — Mark 10. 14. 

You all know the beautiful story about this favorite text 
of the children. I will give it to you as I once learned it 
in a little poem : 

And they came to him, mothers of Judah, 

Dark-eyed, and in splendor of hair 
Bearing down over shoulders of beauty, 

And bosoms half hidden, half bare ; 

And they brought him their babes, and besought him, 

Half kneeling, with suppliant air, 
To bless the brown cherubs they brought him, 

With holy hands laid in their hair. 

Then reaching his hands, he said, slowly, 

" Of such is my kingdom ; " and then 
Took the brown little babes in the holy 

White hands of the Saviour of men ; 

Held them close to his heart, and caressed them ; 

Put his face down to theirs, as in prayer ; 
Put their hands to his neck, and so blessed them, 

With baby hands hid in his hair. 

There were some of Jesus' grown-up friends who thought 
he would not like to be interrupted when he was teaching 
the older people and healing their diseases, by having the 
children come for a blessing ; and so, when they saw the 



CHRIST BLESSING LITTLE CHILDREN. 223 

little ones and their mothers coming, they told them they 
had better keep back, because Jesus had something more 
important to do than to attend to little children. But the 
Saviour said, ' k Sutler the little children to come unto me, 
and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom of G-od." 
One little girl who understood the meaning of this text, 
but hadn't quite learned it by heart, tried to say it at a 
Sunday-school concert, and got it in this way: "Suffer 
little children to come unto me, and — and — don't any of 
you stop them from one and all to come." She under- 
stood just what it meant, even if she forgot the words. 
Another little girl repeated it in this way : "Suffer little 
children to come unto me, because they'll all come straight 
along, if you don't stop them." There was another little 
girl who showed that she understood it, too ; for when her 
mother showed her a picture of Jesus blessing little chil- 
dren, in which there was one little girl who didn't seem to 
want to come, and her mother was pushing her toward the 
Saviour, Mary's mother said : " That is just what I would 
have done with you, if you had been there." Mary ans- 
wered, " I would not be pushed to Jesus. I would go to 
Jesus without pushing." Jesus knew that the hearts of 
the children were all ready to come to him, and to let him 
come into their hearts to be their king and Saviour, and so • 
he said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." 

The kingdom of heaven is not made up like our country, 
of States, but of all the hearts in heaven and in earth that 
take Jesus to be their king ; and the little hearts of the 
children belong to that kingdom ; and so Jesus tells the 
older people not to stop them " from one and all to come." 

This text shows us for one thing, that Jesus loves the 
children. 

Little Carrie was a heathen child, about ten years old, 
with bright black eves, dark skin, curly brown hair, and 
slight, neat form. A little while after she beo-an to £o to 



224 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

school, the teacher noticed one day that she looked less 
happy than usual. 

" My dear," she asked, " why do you look so sad ?" 

"Because I am thinking." 

1 ' What are you thinking about ?" 

" O, teacher ! I do not know whether Jesus loves me or 
not." 

1 l Carrie, did Jesus ever invite little children to come to 

him p 

The little girl repeated the verse, ' l Suffer little children 
to come unto me," which she had learned in school. 

" Well, whom is this for P 

In an instant, Carrie clapped her hands for joy, and said, 
"It is not for you, teacher, is it ? For you are not a 
child. No ; it is for me / for me /" 

From that hour Carrie knew that Jesus loved her, and 

she loved him back again with all her heart. 

u Wonderful things in the Bible I see — 
This the most wonderful, Jesus loves me." 

The way Mr. Bliss came to write that song was by hear- 
ing some one sing, " O how I love Jesus!" He said, 
" It isn't wonderful at all that I should love Jesus, who is 
altogether lovely. The most wonderful thing is that Jesus 
should love me in my sinfulness." And so he wrote the 
song about "Jesus loves me." Remembering that Jesus 
first loved us is one of the ways to learn to love him back. 

A little girl said to a minister one day, "Please, sir, 
may I speak to you a minute P 

He saw that she was in some kind of trouble ; so he 
took her hand and said, ' ' Certainly, my little maiden. 
What do you want P 

Her lip quivered and tears filled her eyes as she said, 
" It's a dreadful thing, but I don't love Jesus." 

" And how are you going to love him ?" asked the min- 
ister. 



CHRIST BLESSING LITTLE CHILDREN. 225 

" I don't know, sir ; I want you to tell rne." She spoke 
sadly, as if it was something she could never do. 

" Well, John, who loved the Lord almost more than anv 
one else ever did, says, that ' we love him because he first 
loved us.' Now, if you go home to-night saying in your 
heart, 'Jesus loves me? I think that to-morrow you will 
say, ' / love Jesus. ' " 

She looked up through her tears, and said, very softlv, 
" Jesus loves me." She began to think about it as well as 
say it — about his life, and his death on the cross — and be- 
gan to feel it, too. So she went home. The next even- 
ing she came to the minister, and putting both her hands 
into his, she said, with a very happy face : 

' ' sir, I love Jesus to-night, for he does love me so !" 

Ought we not all of us to love him who first loved us ? 

But I must tell you how you can come to Jesus in these 
days. When Jesus was on the earth, children ran to him 
and were led to him by their mothers to be blessed ; but 
Ave don't see Jesus with our eyes now, and so we have to 
come to him on our knees by praying. Every little child 
that prays to Jesus is sure of being received. 

During a great revival, a little girl remained one even- 
ing with many others in the inquiry room. The preacher 
spoke to the others, and when he finished he said to her, 
"Well, little girl, isn't it time for you to be in bed? 
Are you waiting for any one ?" 

" Yes, sir," she said, " I am waiting for mother," point- 
ing to one of the women. "Do you think mother will 
give her heart to Jesus to-night, sir ?" 

He was much surprised, and said to the child, whose 
name was Ada, " Why, Ada, are you a Christian ?" 

"Yes, sir." 

" How long have you been one ?" 

" Ever since last night, sir." 

" And how was it, Ada ?" 



226 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

" Well, sir, last night Mr. Moody was preaching, and he 
said, ' Young man, what are you going to do with Jesus to- 
night ? Young lady, what are you going to do with Jesus 
to-night ? ' And then he said, ' Little girl, what are you 
going to do with Jesus ? ' and he looked right at me. 
After the meeting was over I wanted to speak to Mr. 
Moody, but mother was very cross, and dragged me home, 
and put me to bed ; but when she had gone down stairs I 
got out of bed again and knelt down and gave my heart 
right up to Jesus." He asked her what made her think 
Jesus had made her his child. Ada answered, "Because 
I went to him, and he has promised never to send any one 
away who comes to him." 

" Hear now his accents tenderly say, 
Will you, my children, come ?" 



THE CHILDREN'S CHURCH. 

By Rev. J. G. MERRILL. 

But Jesus said : Suffer the little children to come unto me, 
and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom of God. — 
Mark 10. 14. 

This is one of the texts which we have chosen to write 
upon our children's church, and as a good number of you 
are to join the children's church within a few days, I want, 
this morning, to tell you some things that your church 
means. 

Three years ago there were about twenty boys and girls 
in the congregation who loved Jesus Christ, and whom I 
thought I would help by forming a children's church. So 
I got printed this sheet, which should tell what is meant 
by such a church. Let me read it. 



THE CHILDREN'S CHURCH. 227 



CHILDREN'S CHURCH, DAVENPORT. 

The foundation on which we build. — John 3. 16. 

The promise given us. — Matt. 19. 14. 

Our Confession. — I love Jesus. 

Our Faith. — I trust in Jesus as my own precious Saviour. 

Our Repentance. — I will try, by the help of Jesus, to 
give up everything sinful. 

Our Hope. — I want to be more like Jesus every day. 

Our Worship. — Daily prayers and reading the Bible. 
Loving every body. Trying to be good. 

Meetings of our Church once a month. 

Now, if you knew all that older persons do about the 
truths and doctrines of religion, you could see that this 
paper has all in it that there is in the older people's belief — 
that is, all that is needed to make you good Christians. 
And some of you may say, " Why not have us children all 
join the real church, then ?" I would be glad to have 
most of you do it ; but I have seen that before men plant 
out trees where they are to stay until they die, they have 
them grow awhile in what is called a Nursery ; and when 
the little trees are large enough, and straight enough, and 
strong enough to be dug up and placed on the lawn, they 
are established for life. 

Now, nearly all who made up the children's church three 
years ago are in their father's and mother's church to-day ; 
and, meanwhile, a large number of younger ones have come 
along, and they need to have the children's church started 
again. 

Now, what help will it be to any of my young friends 
to join this little church ? 

First. You will have the same pastor that the other 
church has. If it is worth while for the older people to 
have a minister, it is certainly best that children should. 
We compare people to sheep, sometimes ; and I think men 
and women are quite like sheep in many ways. If that is 



228 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

so, children are like lambs ; and I guess a good farmer is 
more careful of his lambs than he is of the older sheep. 

I have compared people to trees ; and I have heard, as the 
twig is bent, so is the tree inclined. If I should live to 
be pastor of this church twenty years more, some of you 
children would be my deacons and trustees — pillars in the 
church, as people call them — so, if I would have straight, 
strong pillars, I must keep you straight now. What a 
hard task it is to take crooked sticks and make fair timber 
of them ! But if we can only have them straight to begin 
with, we can save a great deal of trouble, and get better 
results. 

My idea of what Christ meant when he said, ' ' Suffer 
little children," etc., is that he wanted to have boy-and- 
girl Christians to make the best men-and-women Christians 
of. And this leads me to say, in the second place, that 
you have the same Saviour that the older church has. 

I think one of the strangest notions that ever got agoing 
was that boys and girls all belonged to Satan. Why, a 
leading Christian man in this town told me that he did not 
want his boy to become a Christian until he was fourteen 
or fifteen years old ! The Bible tells us that we belong 
either to Satan or to God, and I am glad that Jesus said, 
" Suffer little children to come unto me," and gave as a 
reason, ''for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Jesus 
is even more tender and loving to the children's church 
than to the grown people's ; and I don't wonder, for his 
heart is like that of many a man and woman who will 
watch, notice, and love little children because they are lit- 
tle. Other and older people may be hungry, cold, and 
abused, before little children should suffer such things. It 
is bad enough for an old man to become lame and have to 
use crutches all his life through ; but how much worse for 
a little boy to have his leg wither, and know that he can 
never walk upon it. 



THE RICH YOUNG RULER. 229 

Then, in the third place, members of the children's 
church have the same kind of work to do that members of 
the large church do. Any one who belongs to either of 
the churches, agrees to help others and obey God. We all 
of us will have to work hard to do it. And when a little 
boy brings a quart pail of water from the spring, or four 
sticks of wood from the pile, to save his mothers steps, 
or because he would be a useful Christian boy, he has done 
just as good an act as the strong man with a pail of water 
in each hand, or an armful of wood that would break a 
boy's back. 

Then, lastly, children, your little church has the same 
hope that the greater church has. After a few years all 
of us, and after a few days some of us, are to go to a bet- 
ter land than this. Xo one can have a home there unless 
he has trusted in and loved Jesus, who is that land's king ; 
and when you join your little church you say, and, I hope, 
feel, that you do trust in that Jesus who is at the head of 
all true churches — yours as much as the greatest the world 
has ever seen. 



Bible Link — A rich young man asks Jesus how he can secure eter- 
nal life— Matt. 19. 16-30 ; 20. 1-16 ; Mark 10. 17-31 ; Luke 18. 
18-30. 



THE RICH YOUNG RULER. 

By Kev. ANNA OLIVER, Brooklyn. 

[Mark 10. 17-31.] 

I have promised the children a little talk before the 
regular sermon every Sabbath morning. Our subject to- 
day is found in the Gospel of Mark, 10th chapter, from 
the 17th to the 31st verse. It is about a young ruler who 



230 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

lived when Jesus was on earth. He was what would be 
called a "good young man." He had kept God's com- 
mandments — always doing what he thought to be right. 
But still he felt in his heart that there was something else 
necessary before he could have eternal life. 

So one day, seeing Jesus come out of a house, and be- 
lieving that he was a great teacher, this young man ran up 
to Jesus and very earnestly asked our Lord, what he yet 
lacked, or what more he ought to do, that he might have 
eternal life. Now, this young man was very beautiful and 
interesting, and when Jesus looked at him he loved him. 
And Jesus, who knows everything, knew that he was very 
rich. So our Lord told him to give all that he had to the 
poor, and to come and follow him. But this rich man 
thought so much of his large, beautiful house, and all the 
handsome things he had in it, that he felt very sorry to 
hear Jesus say that he must give them up. And he would 
not give them up. So we arc told that he went away, and 
did not follow Jesus. 

The Lord gives us a great many beautiful things to en- 
joy, and to use while we are here in this world ; but this 
account of the rich young man teaches us that if we are 
not willing to give them up, or spend what we have for the 
Lord's sake, that we will never gain eternal life ; that we 
cannot be followers of Christ ; that we are not Chris- 
tians. 

When we love Jesus we are not only willing to give up 
everything to please him, but we are delighted to give him 
ourselves and all we have. It makes us glad to think that 
the Lord has given us the means to help the poor and sick, 
and to send the Bible and missionaries to the heathen, to 
tell them about the One whom we love with our whole 
hearts, and who died for them and for us. If we do not 
feel so, it is a sign that we are not Christians. 

I will tell you a little story that will show you how easy 



THE RICH YOUNG RULER. 231 

and natural it is to give up the very best things we have, 
for the sake of some one whom we love very much. It 
is a true story, for I saw and heard myself what I am go- 
ing to tell you. 

One time I was visiting where there was a little girl 
named Nellie, at play in the room. A set of bright, shin- 
ing, tin playthings had just been given her. She was per- 
fectly delighted with them, and no wonder ; for there were 
plates and dishes and knives and forks and little pans, as 
bright as though they were made of silver. And in Nel- 
lie's eyes they were as precious as silver and gold and jewels 
would be to others. 

Now, several of us in the room wanted Nellie to talk to 
us, or look up at us. You know every one enjoys talking 
to good little children. But Nellie was seated on the floor, 
with a stick of candy in one hand, and the other busy with 
her pretty playthings, and we could not get her attention 
at all. 

I must tell you that Nellie's mother had been away from 
home for some time, and her little girl had not seen her. 
While we were talking among ourselves, and had quite 
forgotten Nellie, and while Nellie's eyes and thoughts were 
all engrossed with her bright toys, the door opened and 
her mamma entered. At once Nellie sprang up, left her 
pretty things, dropped her candy on the floor, and with 
her sticky hands was clinging round her mother's neck. 
You see she loved her mother more than her playthings, 
so she left them for her mother. She did not love us as 
much as she loved her toys, so we could not coax her to 
leave them. But when she saw her mother, she was glad 
to leave them. She forgot them. She had found what 
she cared more about, and her little heart was full of joy 
as she nestled in her mother's arms. 

It was, perhaps, an hour before she remembered her 
playthings. And what do you suppose she did then ? 



232 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Why, she gathered them in her apron, as best she could, 
and poured them into her mother's lap, saying, 

" O, mamma, see ! beautiful ! 
I dive 'um all to 'ou." 

So, if the rich young man had loved Jesus, he would 
have found greater delight in following him, and even suf- 
fering for his sake, than in all his riches. If you are a 
true Christian you will never find it hard to spend your 
money for the poor, or in any way that will do good. To 
give the best you have and all you have to the blessed Lord 
will make you happy, just as little Nellie was delighted to 
pour all her playthings into her mother's lap. 

Some persons think they cannot give up so much for 
Jesus ; that they cannot live without their riches, or their 
pleasures, or without having their own way ; and they go 
off sorrowful, like the young man, and never follow Jesus. 
But if they loved the Lord as Nellie loved her mother, 
they would rind that they were happier with him as their 
Saviour, than any riches could make them. That is the 
reason that the poorest Christian is happier even in this 
world, than the richest man who has nothing but his houses 
and money to live for. And, beside our satisfaction in 
religion here, if we follow Jesus, he will lead us at last to 
mansions in heaven — those beautiful houses that he will 
give us there to live in forever, that shine brighter than 
the sun. 

Now, dear children, please pay good attention to what 
is said to the older persons, and you will understand a great 
deal more about this subject. 

[Miss Oliver preaches the five-minute sermon to children 
each Sunday morning, on the same topic which she after- 
wards expounds more fully to the whole congregation.] 



SUFFERING AND SERVICE. 233 



Bible Link— Jesus again foretells his sufferings— Matt. 20. 17-19 ; 
Mark 10. 31-34 ; Luke 18. 31-34. The ambitious office-seeking of 
James and John— Matt. 20. 20-28 ; Mark 10. 35-45. 



SUFFERING- AND SERVICE. 

By Rev. A. F. SCHAUFFLER, New York. 
[Mark 10. 32-45.] 

The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minis- 
ter, and to give his life a ranson for many. — Mark 8. 45. 

Towards the close of Jesus' life, lie and his disciples 
went up to Jerusalem, where he was to be crucified. On 
the way the Saviour told them of the things which were 
going to happen there. The apostles did not fully under- 
stand what he meant, for although they believed that Jesus 
was the Messiah, they could not understand how it was 
possible for the Messiah to be crucified. They had not at 
all grasped the truth that Jesus could only be a Saviour 
by humbling himself even unto death. Soon after this 
James and John came to him, and begged that when he 
set up his kingdom in this world, he would give them the 
privilege of sitting on his right hand and on his left. This 
request shows that pride was in their hearts. They wanted 
to be exalted above the rest of the disciples. When the 
other disciples heard this they got angry, for they thought 
James and John were no better than they, and had no right 
to ask any such favor of Jesus. There would have been a 
regular quarrel then and there, had not Jesus at once in- 
terfered and told them that in his kingdom the way to be 
great, was first to be small, and the way to be exalted was 
by being willing to be abased. He said that the greatest 



234 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

man was not lie who wanted all others to serve him, hut 
he who was willing to serve everybody else. 

Then he pointed them to his own example, and showed 
them how he was willing to help and save even his enemies. 
To-day let us look at the example of suffering and service 
which Jesus set us. In order to help us in this, we will 
ask three questions. 

Question 1 . — Where was Jesus before he came to this earth ? 
He was in heaven. He did not begin to live when he came 
into this world as we do. He always had been in heaven, 
and there angels had worshipped him, and were glad to 
obey his commands. There everybody honored him even 
as they honored God the Father. He was never scoffed 
at nor mocked up yonder, and never suffered any pain or 
grief. We cannot begin to conceive what glory and bliss 
surrounded him while he was in heaven. If you want to 
have a faint conception of the glory of that home of the 
Saviour, read the last two chapters of Revelation, where it 
tells all about the city of gold, with its gates of pearl and 
its foundations of precious stones. No pain, no sickness, 
no tears, no death, ever entered there, for all was life and 
light and joy. That was the place where Jesus Christ had 
always lived before he came to this world. 

Question 2. — What did the Saviour suffer when he came 
to this earth ? He had to lay aside all his glory and come 
here as a little helpless babe. We cannot understand how 
_ it is possible, and yet we know that the glorious Son of 
God, who always had been in heaven with his Father, be- 
came a little babe, just like the little ones we see in our 
homes, and then he lived for thirty years a life of poverty 
and of hard toil. He who had been ruler in heaven, on 
earth was obedient to his earthly parents. He who had 
created the world, earned his daily bread by the sweat of 
his brow\ He whom myriads of angels had always been 
ready to serve, now became a servant himself and worked 



SUFFERING AND SERVICE. 235 

for daily wages. But lie suffered more than this. For 
when he began to tell men the truth about God, then they 
began to hate him. The more he told them about God 
and heaven and the way to get there, the more they dis- 
liked him. In spite of the fact that he never injured any 
one, but only helped all who cried to him, the Pharisees 
made up their minds to kill him. And when at last they 
arrested the Master, they killed him in the most cruel way 
they could. They laid him on a cross and drove nails through 
his hands and his feet, and then left him there to die. No 
one ever was exalted above Christ when he was in heaven, 
and no one ever stooped as low as he did when he was on 



Question 3. — Why did Jesus humble himself in this way ? 
He did it in order that he might save sinners. He was not 
in any way obliged to humble himself. No one had a right 
to claim this service from him, and no one was strong- 
enough to compel him to come to this earth. But though 
no one could force him to come, his love for us led him 
to hasten down in order that he might save us. The Bible 
tells us that we are sinners and must suffer for our sins un- 
less some one can take our place. Now, no one could take 
our place and suffer for our sins but Jesus, the Son of God. 
If he had refused to come down from heaven to suffer for 
us, we should all have been lost. But he loved us, and 
therefore was quite willing to make the sacrifice. For our 
sakes he became obedient unto death, even the death of 
the cross. He came not to get good, but to do good. He 
came not to enjoy himself, but to suffer. He came not to 
save his life, but to lose it for our sakes. Whenever we 
think of the cross, and of Christ nailed to it, we ought 
always to realize that we deserved to bear the punishment 
of our sins, but that Jesus bore the penalty for us. This 
thought should fill us with joy and love to him. Then, if 
we love him, we shall try and follow his example, who, 



236 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

though in heaven he was rich, yet for our sakes he became 
poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. 
To this the apostle exhorts us when he says, ' ' Let this 
mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus." If we would 
only follow the Master's example in this, how many quar- 
rels between brothers and sisters would cease ! How much 
bitterness of feeling and disappointment would be done 
away with, for men would not try to be great any more, 
but would be content with being the last and the least. 



Bible Link— Jesus heals two blind men near Jericho— Matt. 20. 
29-34 ; Mark 10. 46-52 • Luke 18. 35-43. 



BLIND BARTIM^EUS. 

By E. P. M. DENNIS, of the Children's Special Service Mis- 
sion or London. 

Let us try and picture to ourselves the scene which we 
have before us in this story. There are two things I want 
you to notice about this man, and the first is that he was 
blind. Oh, what a sad, sad thing it must be to be blind ! 
never to be able to see the beautiful sun ; never able to look 
at nice pictures, or to read any books ; and, above all, to 
be unable to look upon the faces of a dear father and 
mother, or brothers and sisters. To hear their voices, and 
to long to see them — but to be blind ! This indeed was a 
sad affliction. But not only was Bartimseus blind, but he 
was poor also. Now it seems to me this made the matter 
very much worse. For, let us remember, that if a blind 
man were rich he might have many comforts. For instance, 
he might live in a comfortable house, have plenty of ser- 
vants to fetch him what he wanted, have a nice carriage to 
ride about in, have people to read to him, and, in short, 



BLIND BARTIM^EUS. 237 

have as much as possible to afford Mm pleasure. But to be 
a poor blind man — to have to beg bis bread in the street — 
to have to listen to others running past and enjoying them- 
selves — the children playing, the horses and carriages rush- 
ing along, and yet to be so poor as to be wholly dependent 
upon the few pence that passers-by might give to obtain 
the next meal, this indeed was a very sad lot. 

Now, as Bartirnaeus was sitting by the way-side, he 
heard a great multitude of people passing by — a much 
greater number than usual. Perhaps some of you wonder 
that Bartiinaeus should detect any difference in the number 
of people ; but we must remember that when any one has 
lost the use of one of his senses, the others seem to have 
additional power ; and thus, no doubt, Bartimaeus could 
hear even better than we can. He hears the multitude 
pass by. Though we are not expressly told in God's word, 
I think we may gather from the narrative that Bartimaeus 
had heard of the Lord Jesus. As you know, Jesus had 
done mighty works in Jerusalem, which is not far from 
Jericho ; and as we are told that the fame went into all the 
country round about (Mark 1. 28), so no doubt it had 
reached to Jericho, and Bartimaeus heard people talking 
about this wondrous prophet, and how he had healed others 
of their diseases — how he had given sight to the blind and 
made the lame to walk — and, I doubt not, he thought to 
himself, "Well, when this Jesus of Nazareth comes by 
here, if he ever does, I'll ask him to heal me." Doubt- 
less he waited in expectation for many a weary day, and 
weeks and months ; but at length he hears some one say, 
"Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.'' What must his feelings 
then have been when he hears these words \ I do not 
think we can for a moment fathom them. 

Ah ! thought he, ' ' Now is the time for me to ask — now 
is my opportunity." What next happens ? Does he think 
to himself, " I'll wait and see if the Lord Jesus sees me ; 



238 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

or I'll ask some one else to tell him about my case, and to 
ask him to kelp me." O no ! He cries out himself — 
shouts out, I doubt not, at the top of his voice — "Jesus, 
thou Son of David, have mercy on me." "Why does he so 
shout out i 

I have read somewhere that one night a large vessel 
struck on a rock not far from the English coast, and, as is 
usual in such cases, the crew fired rockets as a signal of 
distress. The coast guardsmen saw the rockets, and soon 
the life-boat was put out ; but how in this dark night was 
the life-boat to find the wreck ? Xo more rockets are fired 
from the sinking ship. What can they do ? The crew of 
the life-boat shout as loud as they can, and they shout yet 
again and again ; but no sound do they hear in answer, ex- 
cept the roar of wind and wave and the echo in the dis- 
tance, and they almost are on the point of turning back 
again, when suddenly they think they hear a distant sound ; 
and, encouraged by this, they shout out again, and once 
more they hear the distant answer. They pull off in the 
direction of the sound, and it gets louder, till at length, 
guided by the voice, they reach the wreck and save the 
crew. 

They then learn, from the captain of the ship, of the de- 
spair he and his crew were in, when they found all their 
rockets gone and no sign of the life-boat ; and how in their 
extremity they shouted out, knowing that upon this last 
effort rested their only possible hope of deliverance. Just 
so it seems to me Bartimaeus feared lest the Lord Jesus 
should pass through Jericho, and never see or hear him ; 
and thus that he should never get the blessing he had been 
so long and patiently waiting for. Xo sooner had he 
shouted out than the people tell him to be quiet. Have 
we all, dear boys and girls, read a proverb which says that 
opposition makes cowards brave ? Bartimaeus was no 
coward, but at any rate the opposition seems to have made 



BLIND BARTIM^US. 239 

him braver ; for we read that ' ' lie cried out the more a 
great deal." Does the Lord Jesus hear him ? Will he, 
the King of kings and Lord of lords, take any notice of 
this poor blind beggar ? yes ! The crowds may throng 
him, and there may be much else we might imagine to 
divert his attention from that poor sufferer lying on the 
highway; but no ! "Jesus stands still." what mar- 
vellous condescension ! He had heard the poor man's cry, 
and he stands ready to bless. He commands Bartmiseus 
to be called. And now let us notice what the crowds say. 
" Be of good cheer, rise ; he calleth thee." One is reminded 
here of another true saying, that "nothing succeeds like 
success." Those people who tried hard to stop Barti- 
mseus from crying out, the moment the scene is changed, 
and that poor beggar is noticed by the Lord of life and 
glory, what do they now say ? "Be of good cheer, rise ; 
he calleth thee." 

Now comes the reward of long waiting. Now comes the 
moment for which Bartimaeus had so long hoped. Jesus 
speaks. What a moment of suspense was this ! Can we not 
imagine every one in that crowd straining forward to look 
and see what is going to happen ? Let us, too, listen to 
the sweet accents of mercy in which the Lord speaks : 
" What wilt thou that I shall do V Ah ! this would seem 
as though Jesus offers to do anything for this poor man ; 
but there is really just one thing Bartimaeus wants above 
all else, and that is his sight. And next we hear the gra- 
cious words : ' ' Go thy way ; thy faith hath made the 
whole ;" and his eyes were opened, and he followed Jesus 
on the way, praising him for his wondrous gift, and so 
well he might. Here our story ends, and we too must 
take our leave of Bartirnagus, once the blind beggar, but 
now the happy follower of the Lord Jesus. 

Has this story any meaning for us ? 

You and I by nature are like Bartiinaeus, in that we are 



240 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

blind and poor. God's word is very clear on this point, 
for there we read : " The God of this world (Satan) hath 
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light 
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, 
should shine unto them." But, perhaps, the strangest part 
of all is that, like the Jews of old, some of us do not know 
our souls are blind, and are saying, " "We see" (John 9. 
41). Bartimaeus couldn't see the natural sun ; we cannot 
by nature see Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness. Let us, then, 
each one ask himself or herself the question, "Have the 
eyes of my soul ever been opened to see Jesus ?" 

If not, we are still in darkness ; and if we continue thus, 
we shall certainly one day see Jesus ; but it will not be as a 
Saviour but as a judge, and to hear him say to us, ' ' Ye 
would not come to me, that ye might have life." But I 
would fain hope that there are some who have realized 
their blessings, and are eagerly asking, " How can I obtain 
sight for my soul ?" To you I would say, ' ' Jesus of Naz- 
areth passeth by." As surely as he passed through Jericho 
on that (to Bartimaeus) memorable day, so he passes by 
now. When you open his word to read it, and a voice 
seems to say to you from that word, it is Jesus of Naza- 
reth passing by ; or again, when you hear God's word 
preached by his ministers, or by your Sunday-school 
teachers, who warn you to flee from the wrath to come, 
and tell you of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, 
it is again the Saviour who is passing by ; or when, in the 
solemn stillness of the night, or when walking along the 
busy street, a voice speaks to you, saying, "Is it well with 
thy soul ?" it is Jesus who is passing by you ; and even (I 
might add) as you read this book, you may still hear the 
same voice ; for this book is another chord whereby the 
Saviour seeks to draw you to himself. 

What are you going to do ? Are you going to let the 
opportunity pass ? Had Bartimaeus done so, he would 



CONVERSION OP ZACCH^EUS. 241 

never have received his sight ; for I do not read that Jesus 
again went through Jericho. It was his one chance, and 
he embraced it. Dear boys and girls, what if you should 
not have another opportunity ? Will you not then this 
very hour seek the Saviour, and cry out to him, " God be 
merciful to me a sinner V Never mind, if the world seeks 
to hinder you. Never mind if Satan opposes. Make up 
your mind now, as Jacob of old, that you will have the 
blessing ; so that like him, of you it maybe written, " And 
he blessed him there." 



Bible Link — Jesus visits Zacchasus, a publican — Luke 19. 1-! 



HOW THE HARDEST CASE IN JERICHO WAS 
CONVERTED. 

By JESSE BOWMAN YOUNG. 

And he made haste, and came down, and received him joy- 
fully. — Luke 19. 6. 

Once, when our Lord was on earth, he passed through 
the old city of Jericho. He stopped here only a day, but 
in that day he did a wonderful work. Before Jesus came 
to the place there were two sinners there, who were reck- 
oned the worst cases in the whole region. Nobody sup- 
posed it possible for the Lord to take any notice of them 
or do anything for them. Yet these two persons were the 
very ones Jesus sought out and saved from their sins, and 
made them happy in his love. One of these sinners was a 
blind beggar ; and you can read how he was saved and 
healed, in the eighteenth chapter of St. Luke. The other 
man whom the Saviour blessed that day was named Zac- 
clneus ; and he, I think, was the hardest case — the most un- 



242 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

likely sinner to be saved ; — in the city. It seemed a more 
difficult thing to reach him than to heal the blind man. I 
will try to tell you why. 

First, he was a very little man, almost a dwarf. And 
now you will ask why it was harder for Jesus to save a 
man short of stature, than it would have been if he had 
been tall. 

Well, we will think about this a bit. Thoughtless peo- 
ple like to make fun of cripples, deformed folks, and oth- 
er unfortunates. I remember an old crazy man Avho used 
to come to the town where I lived, with straws and weeds 
woven around his hat and into his garments. Whenever 
he made his appearance the idle boys would gather in the 
streets and make sport of the poor lunatic, jeering at him, 
taunting him, and crying out, "Halloo ! here comes old 
Wyant !" So children who are lame or weak are often 
ridiculed. I suppose it was the same way with Zacchseus. 
He did not like to have people look down on him with 
sneers and laughter. His smallness of stature probably 
made him moody, unhappy and discontented. He would 
easily come to hate those avIio made fun of him, and to 
have a sullen and envious disposition. And when a man 
gets into this mood, it is hard for him to get out of it. 

But that is not all that his shortness of size had to do 
with making it difficult for him to be saved. As Jesus 
came through the city a great multitude followed him. 
The crowd hid the Master from view. Taller men were all 
around Zacchseus, and he could not see Jesus. So it al- 
most came to pass that he did not get even a sight of the 
great Teacher, the Saviour, at all. 

Then, again, it was hard for Zacchseus to be saved be- 
cause of his occupation. 

He is called a publican. That means in our language a 
revenue or tax collector. Perhaps you have been in a cus- 
tom-house somewhere. There was one at Jericho, and 



CONVERSION OF ZACCHSEUS. 243 

"Zacchseus was the head man of the office. Maybe you 
will say that that was not such a bad thing against him. 
But in that day it was. Most of the publicans were dis- 
honest. They oppressed and cheated the people, making 
them pay more money than was due. They were cruel 
and heartless. They were called more savage than the 
wildest beast of prey. Zacchseus belonged to this hated 
class of publicans. The people all despised and looked 
down on them. That made it hard for him to become a 
disciple of the Saviour. 

Still another reason why it was difficult for him to be 
saved, is, that he was a rich man. Some rich men followed 
Jesus when he went about doing good, and afterwards, but 
not many. The Master said it was hard for a rich man to 
enter his kingdom. He could not, as long as he loved his 
riches and was not willing to give to the poor — as long as 
he was proud and puffed up on account of his money. 
Zacchseus had not made all his money honestry. He had 
got some of it by cheating. He had defrauded people who 
had paid him taxes, taking more than he had a right to 

Alb these things were in the way of his conversion. 
They made it hard for him to become a Christian. 

Now, let us see how it happened that this man did find 
Jesus. How were these difficulties got rid of ? 

Look what Zacchseus himself did. 

First, he wanted to see Jesus. He had heard of him as 
the great Physician, the friend of publicans and sinners, 
and he wished to see what sort of a man this wonderful 
teacher was. This was the beginning of his conversion. 
Whenever a poor sinner really wants to see the Saviour, he 
has taken the first step toward heaven. 

Then he went further than this ; he climbed up where 
he could see him. He found that the crowd hid the Sav- 
iour from his eyes, and he determined to get up into a tree 
where he could see him as he passed along. He did not 



244 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

stop to think of what the people would say when they saw 
him perched up in the sycamore. They might mock and 
laugh if they chose, but he did not care, if he could only 
catch a glimpse of the Lord. And he showed that he was 
in earnest about it too^ — he ran with all his might. He 
did not idly wait and say, " Oh, well ; I'm too little to see 
over this crowd. I can't see Jesus now. I will let the 
matter go this time." If he had acted that way he would 
never have seen the Saviour, for Jesus did not come back 
to that city again. This was the only chance Zacchseus 
ever had, and he made good use of it. He did what he 
could to overcome the difficulties in his way. 

Now see what the Lord did. 

First, he came by where Zacchseus was. He might have 
gone some other road, or passed by without noticing the 
poor sinner up in the sycamore ; he might have done so, 
if he had not been the Saviour. 

But he acted then as he always acted ever since. He 
came by where the sinner was on the lookout for him, 
ready to help and save. 

Once more : Jesus looked up and saw Zacchseus. He 
gave him a glance which went right into his heart. It 
was a look of kindness, of gentleness, of pity, of wonder- 
ful love. You remember how, when the apostle Peter had 
denied the Saviour, he was rebuked and won back again to 
repent and be a disciple. The Lord turned and looked 
upon him — that was all ; but that was enough. Peter re- 
membered his sins, and went out and wept bitterly. One 
look broke his heart. 

John Newton was an Englishman who was at one time 
very wicked, even dealing in slaves and doing all sorts of 
badness. When he was converted he wrote some beauti- 
ful hymns, in one of which he tells about this look of 
Jesus. 






CONVERSION OF ZACCH^EUS. 245 

In evil long I took delight, 

Unawed by shame or fear, 
Till a new object struck my sight 

And stopped my wild career. 

I saw One hanging on a tree, 

In agonies and blood, 
Who fixed his languid eyes on me, 

As near his cross I stood. 

Sure never till my latest breath 

Can I forget that look. 
It seemed to charge me with his death, 

Though not a word he spoke. 

The last tiling that Jesus did was this : He told Zac- 
chaeus to make haste and come down, for he w T anted to 
stop at his house. He recognized and named him before 
the people, showed that he cared for him, and that while 
the crowd might despise the publican, he, the Saviour of 
sinners, was his friend. Everybody could see that Jesus 
thought that this publican, whom all the people hated, was 
worthy to entertain and take care of him while he tarried 
in the city. That spirit of kindness and mercy won the 
heart of Zacchseus. He had not a friend in all that city. 
The crowd despised him. But Jesus showed himself a 
friend in need and trouble, and this made Zacchseus a 
disciple. 

Now, how did Zacchseus show that he was converted ? 

I have not time to tell all the ways in which he did this. 
One thing is certain : he promptly obeyed. He lost no 
time. He made haste and came down. He minded the 
word of Jesus. That was a sure sign that he was con- 
verted. 

Then again, he joyfully received the Saviour. It was a 
glad day for him. He rejoiced, and accepted Christ as his 
guest and his friend. 

Besides, he was not ashamed to confess the Saviour pub- 
licly. He faced the multitude when they all murmured 



246 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

that Jesus was gone home with a great sinner — -one of the 
worst in the city- — and called Jesus "Lord." His first 
word was one of trust and worship. 

Again, he showed his conversion by his willingness to 
restore whatever he had in his possession that did not be- 
long to him. He promised to give back to any man whom 
he had cheated, four times as much money as he had taken 
from him. He did not dare to keep these unjust gains. 

And the last sign of his conversion that I can notice here, 
is his kindness to the poor. 

He was a rich man, and had been a stingy one. His 
purse now, as well as his heart, was converted. His hands 
had been close-fisted, but they were opened wide to feed 
the hungry and help the poor. 

He saw what Jesus did. He said, "This man goes 
about doing good. He preaches the gospel to the poor. 
He seeks and saves the lost. Since he has chosen me to 
be one of his disciples, I must try to help in this work. I 
cannot preach the word. I am not fit to be an apostle. 
But I can give my money to him and to his needy ones. 
Henceforth half of all I am worth I will give to the poor." 

And from that day on, the orphan and the widow and 
the poor had a faithful friend in Zacchseus. 

Dear little folks who read this sermon, remember that 
Jesus still comes by, seeking the lost. TThen he calls you 
by his word, or by his Spirit, follow the example of Zac- 
chaeus, and, without delay, receive him joyfully. 



children's songs. 247. 



Bible Link — Jesus comes to Bethany — John 11. 55-57 ; 12. 1, 9-11. 
Jesus enters Jerusalem amid the hosannas of old and young— 
Matt. 21. 1-11, 14-17 ; Mark 11. 1-11 ; Luke 19. 29-44 ; John 12. 
12, 50. 

CHILDREN SINGING THE PRAISES OF JESUS. 

By Kev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

The children crying in the temple, saying, Hosanna to the 
Son of David. — Matt. 2l! 15. 

One Sunday, many many years ago, Jesus came into the 
great city of Jerusalem in a wonderful procession. In 
those countries, donkeys are much swifter and stronger and 
better looking than in our land, and kings ride on them. 
Jesus, to show that he was a king, whose words all men 
should obey, came to Jerusalem riding on one of these ani- 
mals, and the people who had seen his miracles and heard 
his teachings, gathered in great crowds in front of him and 
behind him, and marched toward Jerusalem. They threw 
down their robes to carpet the road before him, and broke 
off branches from the beautiful palm trees, whose branches 
are used in those lands to wave before kings ; and they. 
waved these palms before Jesus, and cried. as they marched, 
" Hosanna !" which means about the same as "Long live 
the king !" In those days most of the kings were cruel 
and fierce, and liked killing better than kindness ; but it 
was said of Jesus, "Behold thy king cometh unto thee 
meek.'''' Jesus was almost the first king that was gentle 
and kind to others, and he has taught the world that it is 
not so noble to be fierce men as to be gentle men. That 
Sunday of the waving palms is called Palm Sunday, and 
we ought to remember it on that same Sunday every year. 

The next day Jesus found some people who were selling 



248 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

oxen and sheep and doves in the yard of G.od's great church 
or temple, as if it had been a fair ground or a stock-yard, 
and he drove them all out. Just after that, he heard the 
voices of some children who had seen him come in and 
were 

SINGING THE PALM SUNDAY SONG, 

1 1 Hosanna to the Son of David !" The proud scribes and 
Pharisees asked him if the noisy singing children ought 
not to be driven out of the Temple as the traders had been. 
But he reminded them how much good had been done by 
the psalms David had made and sung when he was only a 
boy, as well as by those he made afterward, and said that 
he was always glad to hear the children's songs and praises. 

Jesus hears the children's songs to-day. Surely, then, 
we ought not to sing lazily, but very loudly and gladly. 
Jesus not only hears our voices, but also sees our hearts as 
we sing. Surely, then, we ought to think of the words 
we are saying when we sing, and praise and pray in our 
hearts as well as with our lips. Jesus teaches that we can 
do a great deal of good by singing. Many people have 
been converted from bad men to good men by hearing the 
children's songs. 

One Sunday a man came into the Sunday-school at the 
Boston North End Mission, drawn by the sweetness of the 
children's singing. He remained until the close, and came 
again that evening to the prayer-meeting. When the cus- 
tomary invitation to seek the Saviour was given, he came 
forward and became a Christian. To a few who had re- 
mained to pray with the penitent ones, he said: "My 
friends, I feel that I am a saved man, and I owe it to your 
children's singing ' Jesus Loves Me ' this afternoon. I 
couldn't realize it, I've been such a miserable sinner ; but 
after I went away I thought it over, ' Jesus Loves Me ;' 
and then I thought of the next line, ' For the Bible tells 
me so,' and I tried to believe it, and I came here this even- 






CHILDREN S SONGS. 249 

ing to get you to pray for me." He became a regular at- 
tendant at the mission, and gave the clearest evidence of a 
genuine change of heart. 

There was need of a secretary in a certain Sunday-school, 
and the pastor invited a wicked young man, who was a book- 
keeper, to come into the school and take the position. He 
accepted the invitation, and soon after heard the school 
sing this beautiful song, " Lambs of the Upper Fold," and 
said to the pastor, "If you'll sing that song to-night, I'll 
come to prayer-meeting." At night the young man was 
there, the song was sung, his heart was touched, he asked 
for the prayers of God's people, and became a Christian. 

Shortly after the visit of Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey to 
Scotland, a little boy passed along the streets of Glasgow 
in the evening, singing, ' ' There is a Fountain Filled with 
Blood." A Christian policeman joined in the song. At 
the end of the policeman's beat he asked the boy if he un- 
derstood what he was singing. 

" O yes," said the little fellow, " I know it in my heart, 
and it is very precious. " 

A few evenings afterward, some one in conversation with 
the policeman, said : " Do you know that a woman stand- 
ing where we are was saved by hearing the other night 

A HYMN SUNG BY A POLICEMAN AND A BOY ?" 

Children's songs are also many times a great comfort in 
trouble and sickness. 

A man who was seeking to relieve the poor came to a 
flight of stairs that led to a door which led to a room 
reaching under the slates. He knocked. A feeble voice 
said, "Come in," and he went in. There was no light, 
but as soon as his eye became adapted to the place, he saw, 
lying upon a heap of chips and shavings, a boy about ten 
years of age, pale, but with a sweet face. i ' What are 
you doing here?" he asked of the boy. "Hush ! hush ! 
I am hiding." " Hiding ! What for ?" And he showed 



250 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

his white arms covered with bruises and swollen. "Who 
was it beat you like that ?" " Don't tell him ; my father 
did it." " What for ?" " Father got drunk and beat me 
because I wouldn't steal." " Did you ever steal ?" " Yes, 
sir ; I was a thief once." These London thieves never 
hesitate to acknowledge it — it is their profession. " Then 
why don't you steal now ?" ' ' Because I went to the Ragged 
School, and they told me, ' Thou shalt not steal,' and they 
told me of God in heaven. I will never steal, sir, if my 
father kills me." Said my friend, " I don't know what to 
do with you. Here is a shilling. I will see what I can do 
for you." 

The boy looked at it a moment, and then said, ' ' But, 
sir, wouldn't you like to hear my little hymn ?" 

My friend thought it strange that, without food, without 
fire, bruised and beaten, as he lay there, he could sing a 
hymn; but he said, "Yes, I will hear you." And then 
in a sweet voice he sang : 

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, 
Look upon a little child ; 
Pity my simplicity, 
Suffer me to come to Thee. 

Fain I would to Thee be brought ; 
Gentle Lord, forbid it not ; 
In the kingdom of Thy grace, 
Grant Thy little child a place. 

"That's my little hymn ; good-by." 

The gentleman went again in the morning ; went up- 
stairs, knocked at the door — no answer ; opened it and 
went in. The shilling lay on the floor. There lay the 
boy with a smile on his face — but he was dead ! In the 
night he had gone home. 

And the children's songs are also a comfort and help in 
the hour of death. A little boy in the far west was run 
over by a car, and so badly hurt that he died the next morn- 



WHY CHILDREN SHOULD BE GLAD FOR CHRIST. 251 

ing. Just before he died, with a very sweet voice and 
happy face, he sang to the friends who stood beside his 
bed, " Shall we gather at the river, where bright angels' 
feet have trod ?" And then repeated a little prayer his 
mother had taught him. Shortly after the prayer the 
sunny eyes closed, and the soul — the thinking part of little 
Eddie — went out of his body and up to God ; and they 
said, "He is dead." The little song had been a great 
comfort to him in dying, and to all his friends. 

Since so much good can be done by singing, let us sing 
with all our hearts and with all our voices in the church 
and Sunday-school and at home, and thus we may save and 
comfort many sinful and sorrowful hearts. 



WHY CHILDREN SHOULD BE GLAD FOR 
CHRIST. 

Br ALEXANDER MACLEOD, D.D., Birkenhead, Eng. 

. Jesus once said of children : "Of such is the kingdom 
of heaven." And when he came riding into Jerusalem, it 
was as the king of that kingdom he came. The people had 
gone forth to meet him, and bring him in like a king. They 
cut branches from the palm trees and waved them in the air, 
to express their joy. They flung their cloaks and coats on 
the ground, to make a carpet for him. They went before 
him and followed him through the streets, and up to the 
temple, filling the air with their welcome. But when he 
came to the temple the children took up the shout and 
cried : iC Hosanna to the Son of David !" 

That would be a very sweet sound to Jesus. Jesus has 
a great love * for children, and their praise is very dear to 
him. On the outskirts of the joyful crowd that day, were 



252 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

people who did not share the joy — bad men, with scowling 
faces and hate-filled eyes, whispering hard things against 
him, and plotting to put him to death. But near at hand, 
moving about his feet, were the children of Jerusalem. 
And they were crying with all their might : ' ' Hosanna to 
the Son of David !" 

A thousand years before, the great King David had 
said, in one of his psalms : "Out of the mouth of babes 
and sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine 
enemies." Our Lord remembered that psalm in the tem- 
ple when he heard the children shouting. There were the 
enemies, with the wicked look in their eyes, with the 
wicked word on their lips, with the wicked purpose in 
their hearts. But here were the babes and the sucklings, 
the children of Jerusalem, lifting up their voices in his 
praise, just as King David had said. 

It was the fulfilment of David's word. The children had 
seen Jesus doing kingly deeds. They saw him opening the 
eyes of the blind, healing the lame, and doing other still 
more wonderful things. And now, when he came up to 
Zion, to the palace of the great king, they said : ' ' This is 
the great king himself — great David's greater son. Ho- 
sanna ! hosanna !" The praise was in their hearts, and it 
rushed up into their lips. 

It was also a prophecy of what should be thereafter. In 
all ages, and in other towns besides Jerusalem, Jesus shall 
have children who will cry " Hosanna" in his praise, and 
be joyful in him as their king. In heaven, at this mo- 
ment, there are multitudes of children who are sending up 
their hosannas around his throne, and are very glad be- 
cause he is their king. On earth there are thousands and 
tens of thousands of children who are learning to take part 
in this joyful praise; It is the very mark of a Christian 
child to be ready to cry " Hosanna" to Jesus, and to be 
joyful in him as the king. 



WHY CHILDREN SHOULD BE GLAD FOR CHRIST. 253 

It is this I mean to speak of to-day. I intend to men- 
tion some reasons why yon should take part in these ho- 
annas, and be joyful in Christ as your king. And the rea- 
sons are these : First, he is the Saviour of children. 
Second, he became a child, that he might understand chil- 
dren. Third, he is not ashamed to call children his 
brothers and sisters. Fourth, he is preparing a place for 
children above. 

I. HE IS THE SAVIOUR OF CHILDREN. 

It is a great thing for children to have a Saviour. A 
mother was knitting under the porch of her house one 
autumn afternoon. Her boy was playing with other chil- 
dren on the village green. Beyond the green was the 
river, and on the opposite bank of it was a wood full of 
nuts and berries, and sweet-smelling leaves, and flowers, 
and many other things which children delight to gather. 
"Let us cross to the wood," said some of the bigger chil- 
dren. "I shall cross, too," said the little boy, whose 
mother was knitting at the door. The ford was a little to 
the right, and just out of his mother's view. There were 
stepping-stones all the way across. And the little nutting 
and berrying party got quite safely to the other side. But 
the clouds had been darkening over the sky since the morn- 
ing. And now it began to rain. First it came in heavy 
drops, then there was a peal of thunder, then came down 
torrents of rain. The bigger children hurried back to the 
ford, and one by one got over safely. The little boy 
whose mother was knitting under the porch was last. The 
river had by this time risen. The stepping-stones were 
beginning to be covered. The little man took one step, 
then a second, then he came to a stone over which the 
river was flowing swiftly, and his heart failed. He wrung 
his hands with fear, and cried with a piercing cry. The 
mother heard his crv, and flew to the ford. She was too 



254 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

late. She could not reach her child. A broad black flood 
of water came thundering down between her boy and her. 
"My child ! my child !" she cried. "Mother ! mother ! 
come for me," cried the boy. All the village came down 
to the river-side — men and women, young and old ; but 
no one would venture to cross. They looked and pitied ; 
they looked and wrung their hands, but they gave no help. 
At that moment a young shepherd, leading his flock down 
from the mountains, entered the village, and saw the peril 
of the child. He left his sheep on the green, and took 
great strides to the river-brink. The roaring of the water 
over the stones was terrible, but he heeded not. He step- 
ped boldly from stone to stone. In the centre, the flood 
had carried some of them away : he plunged into the 
stream. With strong arms he beat the water to the right 
and left. He pressed his feet against the currents, and 
swam right over to the body. With one arm he clasped 
the child, with the other he once more grappled with the 
flood. There was the roaring of the stream beneath, and 
the raging of the storm above ; but the brave shepherd, 
partly walking and partly swimming, brought the' boy to 
the bank, and delivered him to his mother. 

That was a boy who found a Saviour. And what the 
brave young shepherd saved him from was death. But 
Christ was the real Saviour that day. It was he who sent 
the shepherd at the very nick of time. It was he who put 
the noble willingness into his heart to risk his life for the 
life of the child. It was he who made him brave and 
strong to battle with the flood. And every day, some- 
where, in this or some other way, Christ is saving chil- 
dren. Death in a thousand forms is continually coming 
near to children. But by brave swimmers, by faithful 
nurses, by wise doctors, by loving mothers, by kind 
friends, and sometimes by the unseen angels, Christ brings 
deliverance. And he is the Saviour from a death more 



WHY CHILDREN SHOULD BE GLAD FOR CHRIST. 255 

terrible than the death which threatened the boy of whom 
I told. It is he who saves from the death which comes by 
sin — the death of everything good in the sonl — the death 
of the soul itself. Every child born in a Christian home 
should be joyful in this Saviour. He has saved you from 
being heathen children ; he has saved you from being slave 
children. He has come to save you from being dishonest 
and lying children, and idle and disobedient children. He 
has saved you from being ignorant of God's love. He has 
come to save you from spending lives without God. He 
has come to save you from dying without hope of going to 
God. He has saved you from the grave, for he has pur- 
chased resurrection for you. And he came to save you 
from what is worse than the grave — from being shut out 
of heaven ; for he has made a way for every child who 
will walk in it, into the eternal family and home of God 
above. 

II. HE BECAME A LITTLE CHILD, THAT HE MIGHT UNDER- 
STAND CHILDREN. 

I once heard about a little girl who was just learning to 
speak. She came up to her mamma, sick and pale, and 
began in her broken way to tell something. Mamma could 
not understand. The doctor could not understand. Nurse 
could not understand. But still the child continued her lit- 
tle tale, and by-and-by began to cry, because nobody under- 
stood. She wished to tell where her pain was, and no one 
could understand. At last they thought of sending for her 
playmate — a child not much bigger than herself. She 
understood at once. It was the same cry which the Shun- 
ammite's little son cried long ago, when he was struck by 
the heat : " My head, my head." 

Jesus became a little child, to understand all your cries. 
He was hot and cold, he was sick and well, he was hungry 
and thirsty, just as you have been. And he had to learn 
to read, just as you had, beginning with the alphabet. 



256 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

He knows all about children. He felt all that you feel ; 
he thought just as you think. When he was hurt, he 
cried ; when he was sad, he wept. He had to obey his 
mother just as you have. Every day he met with other 
children — with good children, and with children not good — 
just as you do. And he learned to be a good boy, and to 
seek good ; and he grew up in favor both with God and 
man. He knew that he had a father in heaven who could 
hear his cry ; and he prayed to that Father. Before he 
was twelve years old he made it known that his Father had 
given him a work to do. "When his mother found him in 
the temple with the priests, putting questions to them, he 
said : "Knew ye not that I was about my father's busi- 
ness r 

He knows how weak children are ; but he knows also 
how strong their Helper is, and how willing he is to help 
them. When a boy or girl says : "I cannot live as God 
wants me to live. I must sometimes have my own way, 
and sometimes I may tell a lie," the Lord Jesus knows 
that that is not so. He was a child, and lived as God 
wished him to live. And he never uttered a word which 
was not true. 

At the same time, he does not forget that children can- 
not serve God in the very same way very good grown-up 
people can do. He remembers how it was with himself 
when he was young ; and how hard a battle he had. He 
knows how little you know yet, and how little you have, 
and how little you are. And he does not expect you to 
pray to him just in the very way your parents do. And he 
is not angry if your prayers are simple and short. And he 
does not expect you to work for him as big people do ; 
but only as children can. He knows your frame, and re- 
members that you are just children still. 

Ah ! if you knew it aright, there is nothing better than 
this in the world for vou. Up in heaven there is One 



WHY CHILDREN SHOULD BE GLAD FOR CHRIST. 257 

who understands all you think and say. When you are 
not able to tell your wants, he knows without telling. 
When you cry in broken words which even your mother 
cannot understand, he understands. He knows and feels 
every pain you have. He knows all your sorrows when 
you are in tears. Even the cries of the tiniest baby in a 
mother's arms go up into the ear of that dear Saviour who 
was a tiny baby himself, and sobbed and smiled in the 
arms of his mother Mary in Bethlehem long ago. 
"Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king." 

III. HE IS NOT ASHAMED TO CALL CHILDREN HIS BROTHERS 
AND SISTERS. 

There are many reasons which might well make Jesus 
ashamed to call boys and girls his brothers and sisters. 
He is perfectly holy ; they are far from being perfectly 
holy. Some have bad tempers ; some are rude ; some are 
quarrelsome ; some are disobedient ; some are slothful ; 
some forget to thank God for His mercies, or pray for His 
help. 

But the Lord Jesus is not ashamed of them. He says 
to children : "Ye are my brethren." He thinks of chil- 
dren every day as his brethren. And every day he blesses 
them as brethren. He makes no difference. He loves 
poor children and rich children alike ; and happy children 
and unhappy ; and black children and white. Those who 
have parents, and those who have lost their parents — they 
are all his brethren. There is not a poor message boy on 
the streets, nor a poor newspaper boy, nor a poor foundry 
boy, nor a poor sailor boy, nor any poor girl, nor any girl 
or boy, rich or poor, in the wide world, to whom he is not 
a brother. 

Do you remember when he called his disciples " brethren" 
for the first time ? It was after his resurrection — after he 
had endured the cross and won the crown. It was when 
he was on the other side of the grave, and was waiting to 



258 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

go up to heaven. He said to Mary: "Go and tell my 
brethren that I have risen, and that I am going back to 
God." Think of the loving-kindness of that message. It 
was sent to the men who had fled from him in his sorrow. 
It was sent to Peter, who denied him with oaths and 
curses. Although they had been ashamed of him before 
men, he was not ashamed of them. He called them 
brethren. There is nothing in all the Bible more beauti- 
ful than that. And it is just the same thing he says to 
you : "Ye are my brethren." Even to those of you who 
have been ashamed to pray to him ; even to those who 
have fled from him like the disciples, he says : "Ye are 
my brethren." He says that, in order to make you his 
true brothers and sisters. He says that, because it is in 
his heart to be a brother to each of you. 

Lift up your hearts to God, and be very thankfu/. You 
and I have a brother in heaven — the best, the kindest in 
the whole world. In the high heaven, where the stars 
shine, and the throne of God is set, this brother lives ; and 
he is the Lord of these stars, and lie sits on that throne. 
This is the king who is continually travelling about his 
kingdom, and doing good to his brothers and sisters. He 
is near to us when we do not see him. He is near to us 
now. Oh, wonder of wonders ! My little brothers are 
kings brothers, my little sisters are king's sisters ! When 
I enter the school, when I go among children by the fire- 
side, I go into the midst of brothers and sisters of the King 
of Glory. 

Nobody need go without this joy. Christ is brother to 
us all. We may have no money, nor fine clothes, nor 
books, nor food ; but we all have, and we always have, 
this brother. 

Nothing can take him away from us. Death may take 
our earthly brothers and sisters, and our fathers and 
mothers, but it has no power over Christ. 



WHY CHILDREN SHOULD BE GLAD FOR CHRIST. 259 

Health and strength, and friends and joys, may leave us ; 
but this brother will never leave you, and never, never for- 
sake you. 

IV. HE IS PREPARING A PLACE FOR CHILDREN ABOVE. 

Some friends called on me lately who were going to 
Australia. I said to one of them : ' < Do you feel very 
dreary ?" He replied : "I have a brother there." That 
took away the dreariness. It would be a very sad thing to 
look forward to the end of life, if we had no knowledge of 
a brother in the life beyond. The ending of life is like 
leaving one's native land for Australia. The ship goes out 
cf the river, the sea widens, the land disappears : you will 
never look on those hills and shores again. But there are 
better hills and shores in heaven. And Christ, our elder 
brother, is there before us. He will come out and meet 
us, and take us to our home. 

In this world there are many things that are very sad. 
Our life is full of partings. It is like the breaking up of a 
school, when the top boys and girls are not to return. 
Perhaps they will never see each other on the earth again. 
One will go to India, one to Australia, one to London, one 
to the grave. So are the children of God scattered in the 
world. They do not know T each other ; often they do not 
see each other. One is abroad, one is at home ; one is 
poor, one is rich. A thousand things divide them. How 
joyful to think that it will not be always so — that the Lord 
Jesus is preparing a place for them above ; and that, at the 
end of the world, he will gather all his brothers and sisters 
into one happy home in heaven ! 

There is just this one sad thought that comes creeping 
into one's mind. Some boy may be saying to himself, 
'" That joy is not for me ; I have not been the brother to 
Christ I ought to have been." And some tender-hearted 



260 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

girl may be thinking that she has not loved the Saviour 
enough, nor tried enough to please him. 

My dear children, this is the blessing of having Christ 
for a Saviour. There is forgiveness with him for those 
who have done wrong. He is waiting to forgive you, and 
make you as good as you ought to be. You remember the 
story of Joseph — the brother who was put down into 
the pit, and sold for a slave into Egypt ? The brothers 
who sold him happened, years after that, to be famishing 
for food, and went to Egypt to buy corn. And lo ! they 
found the brother they had sold a great lord there. He 
did not put these wicked brothers to death. He had pity 
on them, and blessed them, and gave them corn, and told 
them to go back for their father, and their wives, and their 
children, and he would prepare a place for them in Egypt. 
He forgave them all their sin. 

Christ is our Joseph. He is Joseph to all the children of 
men. Can we ever forget the treatment he received at the 
hands of men in Jerusalem ? He came into that city which 
was his own, and the citizens received him not. They 
mocked him, and beat him, and sold him, and crucified him. 

But his heart is none the less the heart of a brother. 
There is forgiveness and mercy in that heart for every 
child of man. Even for those who crucified him he cried, 
" Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they do." 
Oh that every boy and girl before me would cry for that 
forgiveness ! Oh that you would turn to £>ther boys and 
girls, and say, "We have found the forgiving brother, 
whom wicked brothers sold and crucified in Jerusalem long 
ago. He is the king of heaven. He is preparing a place 
there for all who love him. Let us live to him whilst we 
are here, and at last we shall go up together, and dwell 
with him for ever and ever." 

There is one of the psalms in which everything that lives 
is called on to join in the hosanna to Christ — sun and moon 



WHY CHILDREN SHOULD BE GLAD FOR CHRIST. 261 

and stars ; fire, hail, wind, and snow ; hills and trees ; and 
beasts, wild and tame ; and human beings — 

" Both men and virgins young, 
Even young and old, 
Exalt His name, for much His fame 
Should be extolled." 

And everything that lives — in its own way — sends up 
praise to Christ. The singing of birds, the glad gambol- 
ing of little creatures in the woods, the rippling of waves 
on the beach, express their praise. Winter and summer, 
spring-time and harvest, are the four-part song of the year. 
Every season has its own song. In the harvest, the very 
earth seems to take up the praise. The fields are waving 
with ripe corn, the pastures are clothed with glad flocks, 
there is a stir and movement of joy in the very air. The 
little hills rejoice on every side. The whole wide earth, 
lying in the light of harvest sun and moon, rejoices before 
God, who made its bosom fruitful, and ripened the wheat 
and the barley, and turned the little blades of spring into 
the yellow waving fields of harvest. 

O you children of the Christian church — you who have 
been born in this Christian country, and have been blessed 
with Christian parents — you who can read the Bible, and 
the sweet story of Christ's love to man — what joy and 
praise should ascend from you ! 

If the little hills are glad because God's lambs are bleat- 
ing on their side ; and the green fields because the cattle 
He made are browsing on their pasture ; if the valleys are 
glad because the corn is waving on their breast, and the 
whole earth because He has not left it to be a barren wil- 
derness — there are a thousand better reasons why you 
should be glad for Him who came from heaven to die for 
you, and went back to heaven to prepare for you a home. 



262 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



Bible Link — Jesus curses a barren fig-tree, as an object lesson, and 
cleanses the temple— Matt. 21. 18, 19, 12, 13 ; Mark 11. 12-19 ; 
Luke 19. 4^48 ; Matt. 21. 20-22 ; Mark 11. 20-26. 



FRUITFUL AXD FRUITLESS TREES. 

By BISHOP THOMAS M. CLARK, Rhode Island. 

[Jeremiah 17. 8.] 

There is a great deal said about trees in the Bible — 
trees of knowledge, life, righteousness, fruitfulness and 
unfruitfulness. I shall take the tree for my subject. St. 
Paul tells the Romans that before they were grafted into 
the Christian church they were wild olive trees. Xow 
every boy who has lived in the country knows that the 
fruit of a wild apple or cherry or plum tree is not good for 
much, and tastes very sour and puckery. Children who 
are allowed to run wild, and never go to church or school, 
and grow up without learning anything, are likely to bring 
forth only " evil fruit.'' 

In all matters it is very important to start right. If you 
should go into a nursery of young trees and tie a stone to 
the top of one of the saplings, so as to bend it over in a 
curve, and leave it so for two or three years, you could 
never straighten it out again. When I was ten years old, 
I was sent away to a boarding-school, and the day before 
I left home I planted two horse-chestnuts in my father's 
garden, that I might have something to remember the time 
by. On my return home I found them both growing very 
finely ; but one spring day, when they were about a foot 
high, somebody knocked off the rich thick bud that grew 
just on the end of the stalk. The little tree was not killed, 



FRUITFUL AND FRUITLESS TREES. 263 

but It received a shock from which it never recovered. 
Fifty years ago or more, when they were quite small, these 
two horse-chestnuts were transplanted into the street, where 
they still stand, having grown, of course, into gigantic 
trees ; but one of them is much more beautiful and shapely 
than the other — the poor unfortunate who lost his top-bud 
when he was young continues to this day to show the ef- 
fects of that calamity. If you get a bad twist, or lose any 
of the advantages that are offered you ; if you acquire any 
ugly habit while you are young, the bad effect may cling- 
to you as long as you live. 

There is another thing about trees that is worth notic- 
ing ; a great part of the tree — sometimes the greater part — 
is under-ground. And this for two reasons. A tree derives 
a large portion of its nourishment from the soil. If you 
should plant an acorn in a flower-pot you would never get 
much of an oak, unless you £ra?zs-planted it to some place 
where it would have more depth of earth. Then, again, a 
tree needs the support of its roots ; and whenever it stands 
in an exposed situation, where the winds are strong, the 
roots are stronger and more numerous than they are when 
it grows in a quiet, sheltered spot. In all cases there is 
more of the tree growing under-ground than is ordinarily, 
needed to keep it straight in its place, because there must 
be some provision made for the storms to which it is oc- 
casionally exposed. We always find in nature what may 
be called a reserve force — something to fall back upon 
when it may be needed. There is a lesson for you to 
learn in this. You never can tell what peculiar trials and 
temptations may await you, or to what great duties yoiu 
inay be called. If you want the house you are building to 
stand all the shocks of the weather, you must lay the foun- 
dation much deeper and stronger than is needed to sustain 
the building in quiet weather. 

The next point to which I would call your attention is 



264 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

this. A tree is sometimes very much benefited by prun- 
ing, especially when it is young. I once saw the Rev. Dr. 
Wayland — of whom you may have heard, as he was one of 
the great men of the age — directing a working man who 
was digging away a portion of the rich soil around the 
roots of some peach trees and filling in with hard-coal 
ashes, which are not very nourishing. I asked him what 
he was doing that for, and he said that the trees were 
growing too fast, and everything was running to wood and 
leaves, so that he could get very little fruit. God some- 
times treats His children in a similar way, and feeds them 
with the ashes of affliction, to keep down the rank growth. 
Christ tells us how the faithful husbandman purges, or 
prunes, the branches, that they may bring forth more fruit. 
You may wonder that you are so often thwarted in your 
plans, called to endure so much hard discipline, disap- 
pointed in your highest hopes ; but this is just what you 
need in order that the fiber of your soul may be made 
strong. Children who have the easiest time, do not always 
make the best men. There are none who do not need 
some pruning. It may hurt when you feel the knife cut, 
but by-and-by you will be thankful for that which makes 
you ache now. 

There is, indeed, a kind of trimming which does not 
much improve the shape of a tree. In Holland I have seen 
trees that have been cut into all sorts of queer fantastic 
forms, and sometimes pruned away until they looked about 
as flat as flowers that had been pressed in a book. There 
are some children who grow up to be what are called 
prigs — pert, conceited, unnatural creatures, with all the 
reality squeezed out of them. They are as artificial as a 
mannikin, and put on airs which make them disgusting. 
They are not children at all, but only little stunted men or 
women. I would not advise you to try to become any- 
thing else than what God made you. If you can succeed in 



FRUITFUL AND FRUITLESS TREES. 265 

that, you have done all that He requires. * ' When I was a 
child," says the Apostle, "I spake as a child ;" and I have 
no doubt that he talked very well in that capacity. 

And now let us consider some of the ways in which trees 
are liable to be injured or destroyed. Our text alludes to 
a "tree planted by the waters." In that part of the 
world where the prophet Jeremiah lived, there was not the 
same amount of steady rain that we enjoy, and the trees 
were likely to thrive best which grew near some water- 
course. In the absence of water, they were sure to die. 
Nothing can live without it. The desert is a desert simply 
for want of water. Let the clouds begin to distill upon the 
earth, and after a while the wilderness would be turned in- 
to a garden. If you children would thrive, you must 
drink of "the water of life" freely. And where that wa- 
ter is to be found you all know: "If any man thirst," 
says the Saviour, "let him come unto me and drink." 

Or a tree, instead of dying out gradually for want of 
water, may be suddenly shivered by the lightning, or torn 
out from the roots by a tornado. So you may be destroy- 
ed by some blast of passion, some violent feeling that 
hurls you to the earth and crushes the life out of your 
soul. You may do a damage to yourself in a single hour 
which a whole lifetime may not be able to repair. 

There are other ways in which a tree may be ruined, 
which are more quiet and insidious but none the less fatal. 
On the grounds where I live in summer there are several 
grand old oaks that were once full of beautiful foliage, but 
they are now nothing but skeletons — some of them with 
not a single green leaf upon the branches. They have not 
died of age, and it would probably take a long time for 
you to guess what it is that has killed them. The fish- 
hawk was their murderer. In one of the upper crotches 
of the oak you may sec a rough, dark-colored nest, about 
as big as a bushel basket, made of twigs and rushes and 



266 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

sea-grass, which the fish-hawks have built, and where they 
make their home and raise their young. At intervals dur- 
ing the day you will see them hovering over the bay, and 
if a poor menhaden or any other respectable member of 
the finny tribe conies to the surface, down the bird swoops 
like lightning, grasps the victim with his sharp claws and 
bears it off in triumph to feed his little ones at home. It 
is nothing but the salt water which those hawks carry 
back with them that kills the trees — with" its perpetual 
dribble taking the life out of the bark — and when that is 
dead, the tree must die. 

Many years ago I had a number of peach trees trained 
against a wall, which were very thriving and bore an 
abundance of delicious fruit. But one summer the leaves 
began to curl up and wither, and the peaches, before they 
were half ripe, shriveled and fell to the ground. It was 
very difficult to account for this sudden blight — the soil 
was good, the season favorable, and there was no mark of 
disease on the surface of the trees. But digging down a 
little below the ground, we found the root perforated with 
a small hole, and running a wire a foot or so up into the 
tree, we drew out what is called a borer — a little white 
worn about an inch long, with a sort of hard, black augur 
in its head, by means of which he had worked his way up 
into the very heart of the tree and sapped its life at the 
fountain-head. There was no cure for this, and the trees 
were cut down, fit only to be burned. Do you not see the 
application ? There works its way into your heart some 
vile worm — some ugly thought, some low desire — and in- 
fects with its poison the very centre of your being. ' ' It 
is nothing but a thought," you say to yourself, " and can- 
not do much harm. I can dismiss it from my mind when- 
ever I please. I can say just how far it shall go, and then 
stop it." My young friend, you might have kept it out of 
your soul, if you had chosen to do so ; but once in, it is not 



FRUITFUL AND FRUITLESS TREES. 267 

for you to say what it shall do. Remember this : all the 
crime and all the sin that exists in the world began with a 
bad thought. If that had been repelled in the beginning, 
these bad men would not have been groaning in prison, or 
swinging on the scaffold, or gradually dying of inward cor- 
ruption. 

But, some of you may ask, Is there no way of reviving 
a tree that has begun to decay, and bringing the soundness 
back to it again ? In many cases there is, and I trust that 
none of you have got beyond the point of redemption. 
One of the strangest devices for doing this that I ever 
heard of, was in the case of a tree, the bark of which was 
decaying all around the lower part of the trunk, w r hile at 
the same time the roots below were sending up about the 
stump long vigorous suckers, as they are often called. 
The owner of the tree, which was a valuable one, thought 
he would try the experiment of grafting the tops of these 
suckers into the trunk a little above the decayed part ; 
and, to his gratification, they took firm hold and increased 
in size until at last they were able to supply the tree with 
the sap which it needed, after the original source of supply 
was cut off". This is what might be called a vicarious op- 
eration — the definition of "vicarious" being "acting in 
place of another." Now, what you are unable to do your- 
self, may be done for you by another. Of course you can- 
not atone for your own sin, neither can you heal your own 
soul of its wounds ; but you can put yourself into the 
hands of One who will do it for you. If you are really 
sorry for your sin, and are ready to repent — or turn square 
around, which is what the word means — and believe, that 
is, trust, then Christ w 7 ill take you into his hands, and 
save, and sanctify, and bless you. 



268 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



PRAYER AND FORGIVENESS. 

By Rev. G. C. :NOYES, Evakston, III. 

Mark 11. 24-33. 

Evert Sabbath, all over our land, the people are called 
together from their homes to the house of God by "the 
church-going bell." We are all familiar with its tones, as 
they sound forth far and wide. We have come this morn- 
ing in answer to their call. 

But I want you to listen to another and a mightier call, 
which bids you give attention to these wonderful words 
about prayer and forgiveness which are contained in our 
lesson to-day. A great and good man has likened the 
miracles of our Saviour to the ringing of the great bell of 
the universe, and he said that the sermon which followed 
must needs be very remarkable and important. Now a lit- 
tle before this sermon of Jesus about prayer and forgive- 
ness, he rang the great bell of the universe, as if to call at- 
tention to it, by performing a miracle. By a word of his 
mouth he withered a fruitless and therefore useless fig-tree, 
so that very soon after it died. By this act he would teach 
us that the great purpose of our lives is to bear good fruit. 
He would also show his power and authority as a teacher, 
while by his sermon which followed the miracle, he sets 
before us our whole duty in regard to prayer and forgive- 
ness. 

In more than one instance the miracles of our Lord were 
followed by some sermon, which, however brief, was full 
of truth of the very greatest importance to us. Thus, 
after stilling the tempest, he preached to his disciples, say- 
ing, " Why are ye so fearful ? How is it that ye have no 
faith V And how very powerfully, in that instance, must 



PRAYER AND FORGIVENESS. 269 

what he did have enforced the lesson of what he said. It 
should be so now with the lesson before us. I want first 
of all that you should believe in the authority of this di- 
vine Teacher, for, as the closing part of our lesson tells us, 
the Pharisees denied his authority. Beware how you do 
this. You must not despise or neglect what he says, here 
or elsewhere in his word. If you pursue a course contrary 
to that which he marks out, you will certainly go wrong, 
and may be lost. 

I have heard of two brothers journeying together in win- 
ter, when the snows were deep. They were directed to go 
by a roundabout road, and avoid the shortest way, which 
was quite impassable because of deep snow-drifts. One 
followed the direction, and safely reached his journey's end. 
The other insisted upon taking the forbidden road, and 
would have perished, if kind men had not gone after him 
and rescued him. Thus it is always with those who wil- 
fully choose and follow their own way. Every one who is 
wise in his own eyes despises God. He is sure that there 
is some way of salvation as good and safe as that which 
God has shown us in his word. But you will find, as this 
traveller found, that there is one way only that is really 
safe. Be humble, therefore, dear children, and believe 
and obey what the Lord Jesus says. Believe what he 
teaches you in this lesson. 

But what does he teach ? He teaches how you should 
pray, and teaches you about forgiveness, saying that with- 
out a forgiving spirit you can never pray acceptably to 
him. Let us first consider what he tells us about prayer. 
Listen to his words : " Therefore I say unto you, whatso- 
ever things ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive 
them, and ye shall have them." 

Now we must not suppose that Jesus here means that he 
will gratify every desire, however wild or foolish, that you 
may have. No, this is not what his words mean. He 



2 70 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

means that every good thing which you ask him for, be- 
lieving, he will give it. A kind earthly father would not, 
if he could, give everything that his child asks. In his 
ignorance he asks for many things which it would not he 
good for him to have, and which therefore must be refused. 
And so God, in His greater wisdom and stronger love for us, 
will give to us only what He sees will be good for us. But 
He will give all good things which, believing, we ask Him 
to give. This is the meaning of the Saviour's words. But 
then we must ask. There are many who think there is no 
use in praying to God. Now, as in the days of Job, there 
are many who say, " What is the Almighty, that we should 
serve him ; and what profit should we have, if we pray unto 
him V My dear children, do not you follow their teaching. 
The very best gifts which God has to bestow, next to His 
dear Son, whom he has already given for our salvation, He 
bestows only in answer to believing prayer. Resolve then 
now, and say, 

" Ah, if I have not yet began, 
I'll go to God without delay ; 
For if I wait to be a man, 
I may not then have grace to pray." 

Let me illustrate this duty of asking, by telling you a 
story. 

A most kind and loving father was about to leave home 
for a foreign land. He was going in search of health, and 
would be absent all winter. On the evening before he 
started, he said to his four children, " I want you each to 
write down on a slip of paper your wishes as to what I 
shall bring you. Ask for just what you want, and all you 
want." Loving their father dearly, as he knew they did, 
he knew also that they would be moderate in their desires. 
Three of them did as he bade them. They wrote down 
the names of the things they wanted, and gave the lists to 
him. But the fourth one said, ' ' I am not going to ask 



PRAYER AND FORGIVENESS. 2Vl 

for anything. I will leave papa, who loves me, to choose 
for me." The others said to her, " Papa bade us ask ; and 
if we do not ask, it will look as if we did not believe him, 
and will clearly be disobeying him." But she would not 
be persuaded. And so their father carried away with him 
only three little slips of paper, as he went forth on his long 
journey and absence from home. When at last he came 
back, and the presents were all displayed before the eager 
children, it was found that all their petitions had been more 
than fulfilled, and their joy knew no bounds. But there 
was one for whom there was not a single gift. An abund- 
ance for the others, but nothing for her. , It seemed very 
hard. There was no joy for her, but only bitter passionate 
tears. Her father took her aside and told her how it was 
because she did not ask when he had bidden her to do so, 
that she received nothing. And then, with great tender- 
ness, he explained to her that he had dealt with her in this 
manner, not to punish her for refusing to ask of him what 
she desired, but to impress upon her mind that Jesus must 
be obeyed when he says " Ask, and ye shall receive." It 
is, then, a duty to pray ; and it is a duty for every one, 
even for the youngest child. You should in simple faith 
and love ask God for everything you want, trusting Him to 
give it or withhold it as He sees to be best for you. 

But what now are the good gifts which we most need, 
and which our Lord engages to bestow in answer to our 
prayers ? I speak only of those, as you will notice, which 
we most need. 

1 . The first of these is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The 
promise of Christ is a very precious one. He says : "If 
ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your 
children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give 
the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." How great a gift 
this is, you very likely do not well understand. There is 
really no other so great or valuable of all the gifts which 



272 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

God in His rich bounty grants to us. What is it to have 
the Holy Spirit ? It is to have a new heart and a new 
spirit within us. It is to find ourselves helped when we 
are beset with sore temptations, in overcoming them. It 
is to be made strong for every duty which we may be called 
upon to perform. It is to be supported and comforted in 
every trial, however bitter, which we may have to bear. 
If you have the Holy Spirit, you will often think of the 
blessed Jesus, how holy and meek and full of love he is ; 
and you will pray and constantly strive in everything to be 
like him. The work which he will do in your heart, and 
upon your character, w T ill be as varied in its fruits, as power- 
ful and as beautiful as that which the rain does for the dry 
and parched fields. You know how the same shower makes 
the grass to grow, the grain to shoot up and ripen for the 
harvesting, and the flowers to bloom and display all 
their beauteous colors. And even so the Holy Spirit, 
when he works upon the heart, renews the guilty, en- 
lightens the ignorant, purifies the defiled, strengthens the 
feeble, and gives comfort to the sorrowing. We can none 
of us be good or do good, except as we have the Holy 
Spirit. And this Spirit is given to us, to abide with us, 
and to help us, only in answer to prayer. God has never 
said that He would bestow this gift unasked. "Your 
heavenly Father shall give the Holy Spirit." Yes, but to 
whom ? "To them that ask Him." And this, as I have 
said, is the greatest gift. There is nothing else that you 
should so much desire from God, because there is nothing 
else that you so much need. For it is by the Spirit's aid that 
we obtain all other things which go to make our characters 
right in the sight of God, and beautiful and attractive in 
the eyes of men. And yet that God would grant us these 
things, as well as the Holy Spirit, we must pray to Him. 
And if Ave pray, believing that we receive them, we shall 
have them. 



PRAYER AND FORGIVENESS. 273 

Hence, secondly, you should pray that in your spirit and 
character you may every day grow to be more and more 
like Jesus. To grow to be like him without prayer is im- 
possible. And how very far we all are now from being 
such as he would have us to be, and such as he will make 
us to be if, with all our hearts, we ask to be like him. But 
now, as Dr. Watt's sings — 

" How proud we are, how fond to show 
Our clothes, and call them rich and new, 
When the poor sheep and silk-worm wore 
That very clothing long before ! 

The tulip and the butterfly 

Appear in gayer coats than I. 
Let me be dressed fine as I will, 
Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still." 

And then, too, how subject we are to all evil passions, and 
not to pride alone. We cannot think for a moment upon 
the beautiful and perfect character of Jesus, without seeing 
that we are very very unlike him, and that we must grow 
very much in holiness, and must master our evil passions, 
before we can become like him. But prayer will help, 
and greatly help us, to do this very thing. 

A traveller, who has journeyed thousands of miles among 
the savage tribes in Central Africa, tells us of a tree which 
he found growing there, and which is called the euphorbia 
tree. It is a huge cactus-like, monstrous-looking tree, 
which has many crooked branches, but not a single leaf. 
He says, however, that it is never seen standing out in its 
native ugliness, but that it is always covered by many 
charming creepers which pleasantly hide its unsightliness, 
while exhibiting their own grace and beauty. Now our 
natural characters are much like this unclothed euphorbia 
tree — misshapen, ugly, repulsive ; but prayer, aided by 
God's Spirit — who, you remember, comes to us, renews us 
and sanctifies us, because we ask for His presence and work 
in us — helps constantly to bring out upon our characters and 



274 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

lives a beauty greater far than that with which the graceful 
creepers cover and adorn that tree monster of the African 
forests. Should you not then pray that you may he clothed 
with this beauty \ 

But it is not beauty alone — the beauty of holiness — that 
we need in exchange for that ugliness which belongs to us 
by reason of our sins, but we need also strength — a strong 
arm on which we may lean, and of whose strength we may 
partake, and thus be strong ourselves. In respect of our 
weakness, we are all — the strong man as well as the feeble 
child — like the morning-glory, that little delicate flower 
with which some of you, I think, are acquainted. What 
could it do without a support ? It would soon be lying on 
the ground, soiled, faded, dead. But what does it do ? 
It lays hold of its little prop, firmly clings to it, and fears 
no storms. It grows in beauty because it lays hold of, and 
is supported by, a strength not its own. And now, dear 
children, how can you who are weak and helpless by na- 
ture, stand up and live before the storms of this trouble- 
some world ] There is only one way. That is, to make 
the Lord Jesus your support. You lay hold of him by 
faith, and through prayer you are made sharers in his om- 
nipotent strength. Should you not, then, pray to him, and 
pray believing that the things which you desire, and which 
you ask for, you will receive ? 

But, still further, it is not beauty alone nor strength alone 
that you need. You need both these, but you need some- 
thing more. It is no false sentiment nor foolish conceit to 
regard every child whom I address as now having, in him- 
self or herself, a promise for the future as fair as the promise 
of a rose-bud. But the rose-bud must be guarded and de- 
fended from many foes, or its early promise will be sadly 
blighted. A little worm may be eating into the heart of 
the bud, boring its petals through with holes, and thus 
Spoiling the flower : or mildew nv little frosts may blight 



PRAYER AND FORGIVENESS. 2/0 

it ; or storms may destroy all its fair promise. Hence it 
must be protected and defended from all things which 
might arrest or defeat its blossoming in beauty. 

Now this, my children, which the rose-bud needs, you 
also need. Your promise for the future may be very fair, 
and such as to inspire high hopes among those who love 
you. But lest all this promise should be blighted, you 
need to pray every day that you may be kept unhurt by 
the foes which surround you, and safe amid all dangers. 
You need to pray that the destroyer may not be permitted 
to do his work of injury or ruin in your souls, and that you 
may bloom forever in the paradise of God, to the praise 
and glory of His Son our Saviour. Should you not, then, 
pray earnestly to Him that He will afford you His constant 
protection and make you to abide in safety ? 

Now there are many other things which we need, and 
which God gives us, if in faith we ask Him for them, to 
which I cannot now refer. In regard to them I must point 
} r ou to the lesson which says, "Whatsoever things ye de- 
sire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye 
shall have them." These words tell us that we are to ask 
Him for everything — yes, for everything that we want. But 
I have undertaken to point out to you only some of the 
more important things that you need, and that you should 
daily ask in prayer. And there remains only one other 
gift for me to mention, and which in prayer you should 
ask God to give you. 

3. That is, the gift of a forgiving spirit. I speak thus 
particularly of this, because in the lesson our Lord makes 
it so important. This is what he says : ' ' When ye stand 
praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any ; that your 
Father which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 
But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which 
is in heaven forgive your trespasses." 

Thus you see that the Lord Jesus here teaches us that if 



276 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

we do not have a forgiving spirit, we cannot pray accepta- 
bly unto him. Such a spirit is, then, a necessary condi- 
tion of believing prayer ; but it is also a fruit of such 
prayer. You cannot pray aright unless you forgive ; and 
you cannot from the heart forgive, unless you ask and re- 
ceive from God a forgiving spirit. How important, then, 
is it to forgive ! and how important, too, to pray ! You 
cannot be faithful in either duty without being faithful in 
both. It is with prayer and forgiveness as it is in the hu- 
man body, where digestion forms the blood, and the blood 
gives power to digestion. They depend upon each other. 
They are both necessary to the life and growth in holiness 
of the soul, and without both the soul is dead, and can 
never live in blessedness with God. 

But how hard it is to forgive those who injure us ! Noth- 
ing else is so hard for old or young. But hard as it is, it 
is a duty which we should never dare neglect. If a forgiv- 
ing spirit is necessary to the acceptableness of all prayer — 
as in the Lord's prayer we are taught that it is— how much 
more necessary is it when we ask such great things in pray- 
er as those of which I have been speaking. Therefore, 
' ' when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against 
any." Show a forgiving spirit in prayer, and pray always 
that such a spirit may be given you. 

You know, perhaps, that in Quaker meetings the people 
come together, and all sit in silence until, as they say, the 
Spirit moves some one to speak. Was it not a beautiful, 
if somewhat odd, speech which a white-haired sister once 
made at one of these meetings, when she rose and said : 

" Sister Tabitha all to pieces, 
My best China tea-pot broke. 
But I kept my soul in patience ; 
Not a word of anger spoke." 

Nothing else was said at that meeting. But was it not 
enough ? Could anything be better than a testimony that 



PRAYER AND FORGIVENESS. '1 i i 

even one soul had been kept free, under provocation, from 
anger and resentment i Nothing but God's help, sought 
and obtained in prayer, can enable one to gain such vic- 
tories. And in this way many have gained, and you and 
I may gain them. 

"Let Luther hate me and call me a devil a thousand 
times," said Calvin of his brother reformer, who had 
wronged and reviled him, k • yet will I love him, and es- 
teem him to be a precious servant of God." This was to 
forgive, and it was noble. 

Archbishop Cranmer had so much of the forgiving spirit 
of Christ, that he once freely forgave those who had been 
discovered in a plot to take his life, though one of them 
was a member of his own household, and for the other he 
had done many acts which had been of great service to 
him. It used to be said of him," "Do my lord of Canter- 
bury an ill turn, and you make him your friend forever." 

The same spirit was shown by another good man, Sir 
Matthew Hale, who was a great lawyer and judge. Hav- 
ing once frankly given advice, for which he would take no 
fee, to a man who had deeply injured him, and who came 
to him for counsel, he was asked how he could so kindly 
treat a man who had wronged him so much. His reply 
was, " I thank God that I have learned to forgive injuries." 
Have you learned this lesson ? It is a lesson that you 
must learn. The Lord will help you to learn it, and al- 
ways to practice it, if you will in prayer believingly ask of 
Him this great gift of a forgiving spirit. 

I beseech you, then, learn to pray. Commit yourselves 
every day in prayer to the keeping of the Saviour. Give 
yourselves up to do his will, and in the spirit of those words 
wherewith a great king once gave instructions to his am- 
bassador, saying*, '-You must go : only do you mind my 
concerns heartily, and I will take care of yours." It is 
even in this wav that God addresses us all. 



278 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Ask and expect great things from Him. The more and 
greater things for which you ask in faith, the more do you 
r honor Him. It is said that Alexander the Great had a 
famous philosopher who, being poor, was once brought 
into a condition of great need and distress. To whom, in 
his need, could he apply but to his sovereign, the con- 
queror of the world ? His request was no sooner made 
than granted. Alexander gave him an order on his treas- 
urer for whatever he wanted. He immediately demanded, 
in his sovereign's name, fifty thousand dollars. The treas- 
urer, surprised at the largeness of the sum, refused to pay 
it. He reported the unreasonable demand to his king. 
Alexander heard him with patience, and then said to him, 
" Let the money be instantly paid. I am delighted with 
this philosopher's way of thinking. He has done me a 
"great honor. By the largeness of his request, he shows 
that he believes in my superior wealth and in my royal 
bounty." 

Oh that we might all honor our God by asking and ex- 
pecting so that we might receive great things from him ! 
"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up 
for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all 
things !" 



Bible Link— Discourses of Jesus in the temple— Matt. 21. 23-46 ; 
22. 1-14 ; Mark 11. 27-33. 



CHRIST SILENCES THE PHARISEES AND SAD- 
DUCEES. 

By Eev. CYRUS HAMLIN, Council Bluffs, Ia. 

Whose is this image and superscription? — Mark 12. 16. 

Our Lord was looking at a piece of money when he 
said this, and he made that piece of money say something 



CHARACTER. 279 

to the Jews. Let us take a piece of our money, and see 
if the teaching of Christ will make that say anything to 
us. Here, for example, is a silver half dollar. Something- 
is stamped upon it — a human figure, with some stars, 
some words in the Latin language, and a date on one side ; 
on the other, the figure of an eagle with some more words, 
this time in English. Look at the figure. It is called a 
figure of Liberty. It is put there to remind us that this is 
a free country, and that we must keep it free. 

In some countries the chief ruler is a King instead of a 
President. In these countries, very often the image of the 
king's head is put on the money of the land, to remind the 
people of the duty they owe to the king and the laws. 
This was the case with the coin which Christ held in his 
hand. It showed, by having this image on it, and the 
words which were stamped on it also, that there was one 
supreme ruler of the country, and that his commands and 
laws were respected ; that there was an army to defend 
them against enemies ; and courts also, where bad men 
were punished. People who lived where this money was 
used, enjoyed the benefit of the Roman government. But 
government costs a great deal, and people who are protect- 
ed by it have to pay for it. If these men lived there, and 
took advantage of these things, it was only right that they 
should help pay for it. And this was giving tribute to 
Caesar. And they ought not only to pay the money that 
was needed, but in all things to be peaceable, and indus- 
trious, and good citizens. This was part of what Christ 
made the penny say to them. And this is also what our 
coin says to us. 

In old times, this stamp, or anything that was cut or en- 
graved upon stone or metal, was called by certain people 
called Greeks, a " character." In course of time other na- 
tions got to using the same word to mean this and some 
other things too, and finally, it came in some way to be 



280 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

said of men that they had a character. Now look at the 
stamp on the half dollar, and it will tell us, I think, some- 
thing about what this character ought to be. 

1. In the first place, nobody could tell much about the 
coin, if the stamp were not clear. We should not know 
from what country it came, nor how much it was worth. 
If the stamp is what it should be, all the letters and figures 
and stars and points will be plain. Every line will be dis- 
tinct. That is one thing to be remembered about a char- 
acter. It must be clear. It must be distinct. I have 
heard of a boy who got into trouble when he was tempted,' 
because he said "no" easy. I am afraid he was not a 
boy of much character. At least, there was one line 
which was not distinct. Perhaps he " sort of wanted" to 
do right. Perhaps he was a little afraid to do the thing 
his companions urged him to do, but it was not clear and 
decided in his mind that he meant to do right, and would 
do it anyway. If a boy of no character happens to be a 
Sundav-school scholar, he is very apt not to think to study 
his Bible lesson during the week. Or if he does, he 
doesn't take it up with a determined purpose to learn it. 
He reads it over without thinking very much about it, or 
drops it very soon, to Tead something else, or to go off to 
play. Even if he gets interested in it, he does not re- 
member to practice it. A boy of real character takes up 
his Bible with a distinct purpose of studying his lesson, 
and learning it. He pays attention to that, and lets other 
things alone till that is done. There are some persons who 
are known to everybody as being kind, or truthful, or in- 
dustrious, or faithful, or brave. There is no doubt about 
them. They speak and act so others know what they 
mean, and how they feel ; and what they say and do is 
good, and we say they are persons of fine character. 

Then there are some who are just as plainly unkind, or 
insincere, or cowardly, or unfaithful ; and because these 



CHARACTER. 281 

things are bad, we say such persons are, so far, of a bad 
character. And sometimes we fall in with people who do 
not seem to be either one thing or the other very much. 
They do not seem to mean to do well. They do not seem 
resolved to do right. They are persons, so far, of no char- 
acter. The lines are not clear. We can hardly make out 
that there is any particular stamp there. 

In order to have a real character, then, one of the very 
first things to make sure of is, that you have a clear pur- 
pose, distinct feelings, and that you are prompt in action. 

The young shepherd, David, told king Saul that when 
he was watching the sheep, a lion and a bear came to catch 
the sheep, and he slew them. If he had been unfaithful 
to his trust, he would not have tried to do this. If he had 
been cowardly, or if he had hesitated, he could not have 
done it. Part of his character was prompt courage and 
fidelity. Here was one line that meant bravery, and 
another that meant faithfulness to his trust. They were 
both distinct. King Saul could see them. So could every 
one else. There was no doubt about this boldness, or prayer- 
fulness, or love of G-od. And this, too, is one of the first 
things we learn about our Saviour. He was only twelve 
years old when he said to his parents, ' ' Wist ye not that 
I must be about my Father's business ?" He had already a 
clear purpose. - 

2. There is one thing more that the coin says. The 
Government puts on each piece of money something that 
the people can read, or a picture that will tell them some- 
thing, if they think about it. A number of separate 
marks, however, would not do this. All the lines must be 
connected in some way, so that each mark shall belong to 
the other marks, and each line shall help all the other 
lines ; and altogether they shall make up one figure — just 
as the short lines do in the letter " H " or " W," by join- 
ing together. If the lines on the coin are all separate, 



282 SERMONS TO BOYS AND UiKLS. 

they do not make up a "character." Nobody could tell 
what emperor or great person they were made to represent, 
or whether they were intended to remind us of anything. 
The lines must all be united with one purpose, or they will 
not have any meaning. And the meaning is, after all, the 
important thing. Now a boy's character is made up of 
qualities — "traits," we call them — such as truth, patience, 
courage, politeness, industry, with our talents and the 
powers we acquire. These are the separate strokes, or 
cuts, or lines. That is what the word ' ' trait " means, 
which make up the one figure. These must be clear, as I 
have already said ; but they must also be deep and lasting, 
and they must be put together in such a way as to mean 
something, so as to unite in forming one image, like the 
head or device on the coin or medal. If the Pharisees had 
brought a piece of metal covered with sharp clear lines just 
cut, or with very distinct old ones, if they did not form the 
image and superscription of the Roman Emperor, no one 
would receive the piece as money, because it would have 
no real character upon it. Now it is just so with people. 
If they are to have real character, they must not only be 
clear and persistent, but they must mean something by 
what they do, and what they are — and they must mean 
one thing. Their words and actions must be like the lines on 
the medal or coin, which all go together to make up an image 
that is beautiful to look at, and that tells us something. 

People sometimes have faces cut on precious stones — as 
garnets or emeralds. The persons who do this work are 
called lapidaries. Suppose you took such a stone to a lap- 
idary and asked him to engrave on it the face of a dear 
friend of yours, and he should return it to you with an 
eye cut in one corner, part of the mouth in another ; a 
flower in one place, and a curved line in another, and so 
on. You cry out in surprise: "Why! what is this?" 
And he says : "Why! I thought these were pretty, and 



CHARACTER. 283 

so I put them on the gem." Would their being pretty 
satisfy you ? Not at all. They don't make up the face 
you want to see there. They don't make up anything, be- 
cause they have no connection, no unity. Nobody would 
like this in a lapidary, and yet a great many do just the 
same thing themselves. They are, for example, very at- 
tentive at the day school, but not at Sunday-school. They 
are very careful to get their arithmetic lesson, or geogra- 
phy, or history, but not at all careful to study their Bible 
lesson. They are eager in their play, but not in their 
work ; or they are polite to those whom they like, or to 
strangers whom they wish to please, but not always to 
their own brothers or sisters, or to those who are poorly 
dressed, or who are not attractive. They will work hard 
to get pleasure, perhaps, or to earn money for themselves, 
but they are slow to put themselves to inconvenience to 
give pleasure to other people. All this shows a want of 
character. So it does when people are particular to ap- 
pear good tempered, but don't mind telling an untruth ; 
when they spend a great deal of time learning to play the 
piano, but do not take pains to be kind and gentle in their 
manners and their words. 

Most boys think it very fine to ride horse-back — and so 
it is. They spend a great deal of time learning to ride 
well, and pride themselves on being able to manage a spir- 
ited horse. And yet, some of these same boys, if they 
are disappointed of an expected pleasure, will be sulky and 
disagreeable, or they lose their temper very easily. That 
is, they have thought about mastering their horse, but not 
about mastering themselves. A great many people are 
very anxious to make friends of those who are agreeable or 
rich, or influential, but do not think at all of making a 
friend of the most attractive, the richest, the wisest, the 
most powerful, and the very best of all friends — Jesus 
Christ, our Saviour. 



284 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

All this shows a want of character. The lines that are 
needed to make up the figure — the traits are not drawn 
out to their full length and joined with the others, as they 
should be, or there are several very good things, like the 
eye and flower on the gem — beautiful in themselves, but 
not connected so as to make one picture, or face, or char- 
acter. But here, on the other hand, is a boy who is learning 
to sing. He sings in Sunday-school and in church, and at the 
day-school, too, I hope, and at home. He sings when he is 
happy ; and if he is ever sad he sings happy songs, and so 
gets cheerful again. He sings to make other people hap- 
py, too. And then he thinks he ought to make his words 
and acts keep time with the songs he sings, and that when 
he isn't singing at all, he ought to have music in his heart — 
kindness and good-will toward every one. He is making 
that habit, or acquirement, a line that helps every other 
line in the face. The whole character is more beautiful 
by reason of this one trait, because it is made to join with 
the rest. 

And then the same boy thinks that one of the worst dis- 
cords he can make is to be untruthful, so he tries to speak 
the truth in all he says. Then he tries to be sincere in all 
his friendships, keeping his promises, and never saying 
one thing when he means or thinks another. Then he de- 
termines to be sincere in all his work and study ; that is, 
he does it thoroughly and well, and he is sincere with him- 
self ; that is, he doesn't excuse himself for doing things 
which he blames other boys for doing. When he does 
wrong he admits it, and confesses it. So he tries to make 
this one line of truth help every other line, and so help to 
make a good character. And he doesn't think it enough 
to be truthful, but tries to be courageous also — courageous 
when others see him, and when he is alone ; in the day- 
time, and in the dark, in danger and accident, and also 
when others make fun of him for doing right ; and he tries 



CHARACTER. 285 

to be just, and courteous, and generous ; and lie loves not 
only his friends on earth, but his best friend who is in 
heaven, Jesus Christ ; and, like that friend, he is kind and 
forgiving to his enemies. In this way he seeks to have 
harmony through all that he does and is; and have every • 
part help the other parts, as in the songs he sings — to make 
the likeness of Christ. For that is the ' ' image and the 
superscription" we must bear, if we are to be accepted by 
our heavenly Father, or do His work among men, just as 
the coin Christ had in his hand could not be a coin at all, 
unless it had the image and superscription of the Roman 
Emperor upon it. 

The Bible tells us that man was first made in the image 
of God. But that "image" has been defaced and worn 
by sin. It is almost rubbed out, so that it can hardly be 
seen — if indeed it can be seen at all, except very faintlv. 
It needs to be renewed, as sometimes worn-out coins are 
sent back to the mint to be recoined. And the Bible 
tells us that this image can be renewed, even in the very 
worst • cases. That we ourselves can be renewed after 
the image of Him that created us : " changed into the 
same image, from glory to glory" — to be as the angels 
which are in heaven ; and, what is better still, to be 
made like Christ himself. For the Bible says again, in 
the Xew Testament, that Christ is the express image of 
God's person, and that those who love God are to be con- 
formed to the image of His Son. He is the ' ' pattern " after 
which we must all be made, if we are to have a place in 
the kingdom of God. He renews the image of God in us 
by impressing Himself upon us, if we will let Him do it. 
And we do this by loving and following Him, by obeying 
and imitating Him in all we do. For this image can't 
be put on us, as we stamp something on a coin, by force. 
" God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living." 
And we can only be made like Christ, bv becoming reallv 



286 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

alive ; by receiving the " power of God," by His Spirit, into 
our hearts ; by studying the Scriptures thoroughly, and so 
learning and becoming able to think, and love, and act as 
Christ did. He "is the power of God, and the wisdom of 
God ;" and He "is made unto us wisdom, and righteous- 
ness, and sanctification, and redemption," if we believe on 
Him, if we love Him, and obey Him. 



Bible Link— The story of the wicked husbandmen— Mark 12. 1-12 ; 
Luke 20. 1-19. The enemies of Jesus seek to entangle him by 
questions — Matt. 22. 15-46 ; Mark 12. 12-27. Questions of the 
Pharisees— Mark 12. 2S-37 ; Luke 20. 20-44. Jesus rebukes the 
Pharisees for their sins— Matt. 23. 1-39 : Mark 12. 38-40 : Luke 
20. 45-47. Jesus praises the gift of a poor widow— Mark 12. 41- 
44 ; Luke 21. 1-t. 

THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 
By Rev. L. F. BURGESS, Orange, N. J. 

[Mark 12. 28-44.] 

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them rea- 
soning together, and perceiving that he had answered them 
well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all f 
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the command- 
ments is, Hear, Israel ; the Lord our God is one 
Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, 
and with all thy strength. This is the first command- 
ment. — Mark 12. 28-30. 

AVhy is there so much said in the Bible about command- 
ments and obedience ? AVhy does God so much care as to 
whether we obey Him or not ? Does He need our service ? 
Is He jealous of His rights, and angry when we do not give 
Him all the honor that is His due ? Perhaps such thoughts 
have sometimes come to vour mind. Is it wrono; to ask 



THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 287 

such questions ? No. God lias himself told us the rea- 
sons for our obedience, for He is not a hard nor unreason- 
able master. A little parable will help us to see this thing 
aright. There was once an eastern king who ruled over a 
wide and great territory, when some nattering courtiers 
once urged him to add to his dominions a neighboring 
country. He declined to do so, because he had already 
enough of authority and honor. He preferred to leave his 
neighbors to govern themselves. But he afterward did add 
this new country to his kingdom, and for this reason : he 
found that the people of that land were in a very sad con- 
dition, owing to the lack of any good government. The 
strong oppressed the weak, and the land was full of vio- 
lence and bloodshed. There was no wise ruler to make them 
laws, and no strong hand to enforce even the laws that 
they had ; so, as a deed of mercy, and in pity for the peo- 
ple, he undertook to govern them ; and, by making good 
laws, and then compelling the people to keep them, he 
brought to that land peace and order and prosperity. 

Just such is the feeling of love and mercy that moves 
the heart of our great King and Father. He knows very 
well what a desolate and vile place our world would be if 
we were long left to ourselves. And we can see this in 
part ; for we know that the lands in which God is best 
known and most served are the happiest and most prosper- 
ous, and those places where the people "have no fear of 
God before their eyes" are where violence and misery 
abound. It is love and not jealousy that rules our world ; 
and the more fully we are brought under that rule, the 
more truly are we blessed. 

But it happened that the king at length decided to re- 
move his authority from this country, and leave them again 
to take care of themselves. As the people had now been 
brought to see the advantages of law and order, he thought 
that they would maintain such a rule amons; themselves 



288 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

without the presence of his power. For a little, things 
went well ; but very soon the old evils returned. Selfish- 
ness, and hatred, and corruption abounded ; and it was 
seen that these things had been kept down, but not de- 
stroyed. Although the people had been reformed in their 
lives, they had not been changed in heart ; and, as soon as 
there was an opportunity, the old nature showed itself, 
and matters were even worse than before. 

The good king was distressed, and called a council of 
his wisest men to consider the reason of this continued 
trouble, and to advise him how to remedy it. Many long 
speeches were made, and many wise suggestions given ; 
but none seemed to suit the king, until an old and ex- 
perienced judge said, " O king ! the trouble with this peo- 
ple is that they have received your good laws into their 
heads, but not into their hearts. They have obeyed as long 
as they were compelled to, but have never loved the law 
nor the law-maker. If they had learned to love you, they 
would have kept your laws gladly, and as well in your 
absence as in your presence. Nothing can be done for such 
a people until the law of righteousness is written in their 
hearts ; then they will walk in those ways gladly and al- 
ways." So spake the judge, and the king and all his 
court felt at once that he was right. So the king again 
took charge of the unruly country, and this time set him- 
self to influence the hearts of the people, and lead them to 
love him and his just laws. 

God wants our service, and much is said in His book 
about the matter of obedience. But heart obedience is the 
only real obedience ; and God is not anxious that we 
should obey the letter of His laws so much as the spirit of 
them — that we should give Him the service of the heart, 
rather than the empty service of the life. 

When Christ came to the world, he came to help men to 
do God's will — to teach them how to obey ; and the way 



THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 



in which he helps us is by winning our hearts, by teaching 
us to lore him. He says, " If ye love me, ye will keep my 
commandments." So his only care is to have us love 
him ; and to gain this end he sets himself to showing his 
great love to us, for love begets love. " We love him be- 
cause he first loved us." In his life of ministry and his 
death of sacrifice, he shows his great love. And he knew 
this would win love, for he said, "I, if I be lifted up 
from the earth, will draw all men unto me." To draw us 
to him by love, was to help us in the only sure and right 
way to the life of obedience. 

There are four chief blessings in this service of love ; 
blessings that are not found in service that has no love in it : 

(1.) The service of love is a certain, and prompt service. 
This king found it so. When he issued a new law, he knew 
that those who were under the rule of love would be sure 
to obey it ; that they would be full and prompt in their 
obedience. He did not have to send officers to enforce the 
decree, nor spies to see if it was observed. He felt quite at 
ease about the matter. But in those parts where the peo- 
ple did not yet love him, he had to compel obedience ; and 
even then the law was never so fully nor so promptly 
obeyed. 

Gok seeks for the service of love from us because that 
is the only certain and full obedience. If we love Him we 
will be quick to hear His words, quick to understand them, 
quick to obey them. Those who complain that they do 
not know what is duty and what is not — who seem always 
in doubt as to what they may and should do, and what 
not — are not the loving ones. Love gives sharp ears and 
keen eyes. I once saw a young woman in company with 
a number of young men. All were polite and kind ; but one 
of the young men was especially devoted. He loved the 
lady very deeply, and he was so watchful and attentive 
that her every wish was at once supplied. He was able often 



290 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

to tell what she wanted before she spoke. The others were 
not able to give such prompt and perfect service, for they 
did not see and understand her wishes as he did ; they had 
not their eyes and ears sharpened by love. How quickly 
a mother will hear her baby crying upstairs ! She often 
can hear it before any one else does, and she knows its 
voice from the voices of all other children about. It is 
love that gives her these keen senses. So it is with those 
who love God. They do not have to halt very long to know 
in what way He would have them to go. They do not have 
to be told very loudly or very often how they may do His 
will and give Him glory. Their hearts are so near to His 
heart that they can tell, almost without thinking, what are 
His ways and pleasure. The service of love is a very full 
and certain service. 

(2.) This love-service is also an easy and pleasant ser- 
vice. Service without love is not easy. Are there any 
boys or girls who read these words who have not had a 
hard time in trying to do right just for its own sake, or 
because it is duty, and without any love for God ? Every 
one who has made such efforts has suffered and failed. 
But there is another way ; and it is a pleasant way. It is 
easy to do anything for one whom we truly love. The 
young gentleman I mentioned Avas delighted to be per- 
mitted to wait on the lady, and do her some service. He 
would not have found the same pleasure in serving every 
lady ; but love makes service a joy instead of a burden. 
I knew a gentleman who had to carry his crippled wife up 
and down stairs, and who did this for years. He did not 
generally enjoy carrying heavy burdens, but he bore his 
wife with joy as well as tenderness ; and when she would 
sometimes say that she was sorry to be so great a trouble 
to him, he would answer that the only pleasure he found 
in her sickness, was the opportunity it gave him to serve 
her. 



THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 291 

When Jesus was on earth he said that he " ' came not to 
be ministered unto, but to minister." He said that he was 
among men " as one that serveth ;" and we know that he 
spent his whole life in doing for others. He was at the 
service of all who were sick or troubled, or who wanted to 
learn from him the way of life. This service was not given 
grudgingly, nor was it hard and distasteful to the Master ; 
on the contrary, it was the only comfort and joy of his 
life. This was part of that " joy that was set before him," 
and he desires that our service of him shall be as glad and 
happy as was his service of others. But it can be so only 
as we have the same spirit. He had the spirit of love. He 
found joy in it only because he loved those he came to 
save. 

God's service will be nothing but a heavy yoke, 
tedious and hard to bear, if we do not love Him. But 
when we love Him, we will find it our pleasure to do the 
things that please Him. During the dark days of slavery 
in this country, a negro woman was one day put up for 
sale in the slave-market. She was young and handsome, 
and her master therefore expected to make a good bargain 
in selling her. But she was on this very account in great 
agony of mind. She did not know what evil-minded man 
might purchase her, attracted by her fine appearance, and 
she trembled with fear and shame as she was talked about 
and examined by the coarse men around her. A wealthy 
gentleman in the crowd was so touched by her terror, that 
he bought her and told her that she was free. But she 
followed him as he went to his home ; and though he told 
her that he did not need a servant, and had bought her 
only to make her free, she refused to leave him. She re- 
mained in his family all her life, a most devoted servant ; 
and whenever she was urged by her friends to leave him 
and enjoy her liberty, she declared that no lot in life was 
so pleasant to her as that of a servant to the man who had 



292 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

redeemed her ; and the only favor she had to ask, was to be 
permitted to be near him and work for him. Hers was the 
service of love, and therefore a joy. If we feel that Jesus 
has redeemed us, and know how much that means, we will 
find it our joy to follow him and serve him. 

(3.) This love-service brings another great blessing, in 
that it draws the loving servant near to his Lord, and 
makes him like his Lord in nature. God does not care so 
much for what we do as he does for what we are. He 
knows that if we ourselves are right, our conduct and life 
will come out all right. A good tree will bring forth 
good fruit, and an evil tree evil fruit. Something may 
happen to spoil the fruit for a time. A drought, or a hail- 
storm, or a frost may spoil a crop. But the farmer says 
' ' never mind ; the tree is good, and the crop will be all 
right next year !" But if the tree is hollow, or worm- 
eaten, or if it bears naturally small, poor fruit, he cannot 
comfort himself in that way. It is useless ever to expect 
such a tree to give fine fruit. 

Our hearts are God's fruit-trees. "Ye are God's hus- 
bandry." As He looks upon us, He sees some trees that 
are good at heart, but suffering from ignorance and in- 
firmity and weakness, so that they do not bear much 
fruit now. But He is patient, and knows that such trees 
will give more and more good fruit, as they go on growing 
in His love and grace. But He sees other hearts that are 
bad trees — they are selfish, and wilful, and do not have 
any Christ-life in them. And He knows very well that 
there will be no fruit and no improvement in such cases 
until the heart is changed, and they get His Spirit in them. 
So He seeks to get this pure heart in us. He is more anx- 
ious about the heart than the life ; about the nature of 
his fruit-trees, than about the fruit they now bear. His 
great care is not so much to get right conduct out of us, 
as it is to get right natures into us. This can be done only 






THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 293 

by drawing us to himself, and making us like himself. 
When we serve God in love, we are walking with Him. He 
is our every day friend. We are thinking of Him, talking to 
Him, and coming more and more to know Him. And the 
more we become acquainted with Him, the more do we love 
Him and become like Him. This is what Jesus meant when 
he said, " This is life eternal, that they might know thee, 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent." 

We all find that we become like the friends we are much 
with and love. If they are pure and noble, they help to 
make us so ; and if they are evil, we will catch the evil 
just as we should catch the small-pox. It is even so with 
our heavenly Father. To live in daily and friendly service 
with Him, is to come so near Him as to make us like Him. 
We learn to love what He loves, and to hate what He hates. 
This is the best and greatest result of this service of love. 
It would not be so with service that had no love in it. Un- 
loving service would drive us away from God, rather than 
draw us to Him. The more we are forced against our will to 
do anything, the more will we hate to do it. A man who did 
not know this, used to make his boy read the Bible regu- 
larly, just so much every day. He wanted to have his boy 
in the habit of loving and reading the word of God ; but 
the only effect was to make the boy hate the book, and 
promise himself that when he grew up he would never 
open it. It would be just so if God sought to make us 
serve Him without any love. Such service would drive us 
away from Him. Therefore it was that Jesus said that 
love is the first and greatest commandment. 

(4.) This service of love is the only sort that can give 
any pleasure to God. 

David says, in Psalm 116 : " What shall I render unto 
the Lord for all his benefits toward me ?" That is a great 
question. What can we give to God in return for all that 
He has given to us ? We would like to give Him some- 



294 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

thing ; and something, too, that He would care to have. 
Does He want service ? Can we do anything for Him ? 
Why ! the heavens and the earth are full of His servants. 
Millions of angels are ready to do His bidding, and all the 
forces of the world — its light, and heat, and power — He 
holds in His hands. He does not need our service. Does 
He want praise and honor ? All these agents that do His 
will are doing Him honor in that service. The angels sing 
His praise, and the very stones and water-drops of the earth 
give Him glory. 

But acts of service and words of praise are not 
the things that God wants. Even if he took delight in 
them, He has all that He could need. But He does not 
take delight in them, nor seek them alone. They are of no 
value to Him. They cannot make Him any more rich, and 
mighty, and glorious than He is. All the labors and the 
praises of all the people on earth would not give a particle 
of pleasure to God, save as they told of love. Love He 
does want. Love he can never have too much of. ' ' God is 
love." His joy is in loving His creatures, and in knowing 
that they love Him. Everything that tells Him of our love 
is like a sweet song in His ears. All this life of love-ser- 
vice is such a song. Every act of obedience and submission 
is a note of this music, and it keeps on from year to year 
going up into God's ear, and giving joy to His heart. It 
don't matter who sings the song, nor how, nor where ; if 
it tells of a loving heart, it adds to the music of heaven. 

So here is something that God wants, and something 
that even the poorest and weakest of us can give Him. 
What a blessing it is to find a way in which we can do 
something for Him who is never weary in doing good to us. 

We can now see very well why Jesus said, ' ' This is the 
first commandment." 

It is first in importance and value, because it would 
bring to God a service that is true, and full, and delight- 



NOT ENOUGH TO BE HALF SAVED. 295 

fill ; and to us a service that is pleasant, and easy, and 
blessed. 



Blble Link — Jesus foretells the destruction of the temple, and the 
signs of his coming again — Matt. 24. 1-51 ; 25. 1-30 ; Mark 13. 
1-20. 



NOT ENOUGH TO BE HALF SAVED. 

By Rev. ELI CORWIN, D. D. 

But he that endureth to the end shall be saved, — Mark 
13. 13. 

If a child were lost in the woods, the best thing it could 
know would be how to find its way out. The best thing 
it could do is to get out. To know the way out is to know 
how to be saved ; to get out is to be saved. If the lost 
child should sit down and cry, that would not help it out. 
And so to feel bad because we are lost sinners is not enough. 
That cannot save us. Nor is it enough to know that we 
are lost, and to try for a little to be saved, and then give it 
up. "We must know which way to go. We must start in 
the right way towards the Father's house, and then we 
must keep on going. He, and only he, that endureth to 
the end, shall be saved. To get half way out of the place 
where we are lost and stop there, is still to be wholly lost ; 
it is not to be even half saved. When, years ago, I was in 
the far away islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, I 
asked a boy to climb a cocoa-nut tree and pull off some 
cocoa-nuts for me. The trees were very tall and without 
any limbs by which to climb — having a tuft of palm-leaves 
and fruit at the top. Now, if the boy had never climbed 
more than part of the way up, and then had stopped each 
time and said, i ' I am so tired I think I will go down to 
the bottom of the tree and rest awhile," he never would 



296 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

have reached the fruit, and he would have been no better 
off for fruit than if he had stayed all the while at the foot 
of the tree and never tried to climb it. 

And so in climbing heavenward, we get the best fruit 
and reach the rich reward only as we keep on climbing. 
And we are not saved if we only go half way and then 
turn back. If you were going to see a friend who lived 
five hundred miles away, the last fifty miles would be as 
important as any part of the journey. As respects the 
great object of your traveling so far, that you might in 
his own house visit your friend, the four hundred and fifty 
miles you have traveled are so much wasted, if you fail to 
travel the last fifty miles. But there are a great many 
ehildren, and older people too, who act as if they thought 
it quite enough to begin a religious life and go a little way. 
But Christ here tells us that it is he that endureth to the 
end that shall be saved. It is a great thing to begin to 
love and serve God, but it is a far greater thing to stick to 
it all one's life-time, and then to go on loving and serving 
Him to all eternity. 

The men who did most to save the eountry when it was 
in peril, were not those who enlisted for thirty or ninety 
days, but those who enlisted for the war. So every child 
that comes into the church should think of it as enlisting 
for life. He should start to go through, intending and ex- 
pecting to endure to the end. 

Several years ago, as I was walking in one of the business 
streets of San Francisco, a man at my side said, "Do you 
see that block of buildings there ? Well, I can never for- 
get what I saw where that strong block now stands. A 
building was going up, and for some cause it fell. But one 
wall, three stories high, still stood tottering in the wind, 
and up there on the top of the swaying wall was one of 
the workmen clinging for life. In a few minutes hundreds 
of anxious people gathered at a safe distance, while a few 



WIDE-AWAKE. 297 

brave men ventured nearer, quickly raised a long ladder 
with ropes tied near the top, by which to hold it from 
leaning against the wall, all the while crying out to the 
poor man to hold on and he would be saved. Then care- 
fully leaning the ladder towards him till he could reach it, 
he let go his hold upon the wall, seized the ladder with 
great care, and came down — the whole crowd looking on in 
silence, afraid to shout lest the wall should fall upon him 
and those who were risking their lives to save him. Hard- 
ly had they all reached a place of safety, when, with a 
crash, the wall fell, and then the great shout of gratitude 
and joy went up." Had that poor man held on ever so 
bravely till just a moment before the ladder was within his 
reach and then let go, he must have fallen and perished. 
It was only as he endured to the end that he could be saved. 
And so with each one of you ; there is for you no half-way 
saving. Christ came to save you wholly, even to the utter- 
most. It is of little use for you or for anybody to be part- 
ly saved — saved for a little while, and then lost after all. 
But that same blessed Saviour who is ready to help each 
one of you to begin a religious life, can save you wholly 
and forever, by helping you to endure to the end. 



Bible Link— The friends of Jesus are told to watch for his coming- 
Mark 13. 21-37 ; Luke 21. 5-36. 



WIDE-AWAKE. 

By Rev. ELI COR WIN, D.D. 

Lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. — Mark 13. 36. 

It is an old question, which has been asked hundreds of 
times, whether we do not get as much pleasure from what 
we expect, as from what we have in our possession. We 



298 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

will not try to answer that question to-day. But we can- 
not help thinking of it, when we think that it is God's way 
to keep His people wide awake and always at work, be- 
cause they are always expecting something. Poor people, 
who see very hard times now, are helped to bear up under 
trial, by hoping for the good time coming. The thought 
of a heavenly rest for the weary has been very precious to 
those who were very tired and discouraged and ready to 
give up in despair. The promise of perfect happiness in 
a life to come has helped many a poor sorrowing child to 
bear the great griefs of this life. And so, when the church 
of Christ has been ready to faint and grow weary, and be 
discouraged because Christ could not be seen, and seemed 
so far away, it has been comforted and made glad by the 
thought of a good time coming, when, with a grand pro- 
cession of the holy angels, Christ, our almighty friend and 
helper, shall come again to comfort and cheer his people, 
and every eye shall see him. If a great ruler, whom every 
body called the greatest and best of men, had sent us word 
that he would come to this place, and if he were one 
whom we all dearly loved, who is there here that would 
not be ready to sit up all night, rather than miss the chance 
to be among the first to see him ? Have you ever thought 
how much grander thing it would be if by watching and 
waiting we might see Jesus our heavenly king ? If we had 
professed to love him a thousand times better than we love 
anybody else, we should be ashamed if he should come on 
purpose to see us, and should find us sleeping, just as if we 
did not care very much to meet him. 

If a very dear brother of yours, whom you had not seen 
for many years, should send you word that he was coming 
to see you, and wished you to meet him before the morn- 
ing* you could not sleep for joy, and you would beg to sit 
up all night to meet him. If you love Jesus, the thought 
is very pleasant that at some time he is coming ; and he has 






WIDE-AWAKE. 299 

bid us be always ready to meet him. Well, what if you 
had heard that he would come within a few days, how 
should you best prove your love : by idly waiting, or by 
working while you watched ? If your father should give 
you some work to do, and then go away, saying, "After 
a while I will be back again," what would you do ? 
Would you sit down to rest and wait, saying, ' ' There is 
plenty of time ; I will sleep a while ?" or would you say, 
" I will do my work as well and as soon as I can, and 
then I shall not be ashamed to meet my father, let him 
come when he will ?" Would you be so foolish as to say, 
' ' I think he will come back very soon. I shall not have 
time to do much any way, so I may as well do nothing ?" 
No, no ; as a good and obedient child, you would say, " I 
love and honor my dear father, and whenever he comes 
he shall find me not sleeping, but wide awake and hard at 
work ; for that will please him, whether my work is done 
or not." We ought never to do anything which it is not 
our duty to do, or which we would be ashamed to be 
found doing if our Lord were to come. Many years ago 
there was a dark day in New England — so dark that the 
chickens went to roost at noon, and people could not see 
to read. The legislature of one of the colonies was in ses- 
sion, and some one said he thought the day of judgment 
was at hand, and moved that the legislature now adjourn. 
A wise and good reply was that made by the very sensible 
man presiding. Said he : " If it is not the day of judgment, 
we ought not to leave our business ; and if the day of 
judgment has really come, it is better that we should be 
found at the post of duty, doing faithfully and honestly 
our proper work. Let candles be brought in." 

And so if Christ were to come to-day or to-morrow, it 
were well pleasing to him to meet us in our working dress, 
wide awake and at the post of duty ; not frightened or 
ashamed because we had been idle or doing some wrong 



300 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

thing, but glad to have him come ever so soon, if he might 
find us wide awake and at work, and not slothful or sleep- 
ing. You need not fear the hour of death or the coming 
of the day of judgment, if, loving and serving Christ, you 
are found to the very last doing duty. 



Bible Link— Jesus describes the day of judgment— Matt. 25. 31-46 ; 
Luke 21. 37, 38. What was done on the fourth day of the week in 
which Jesus was crucified — Matt. 26. 1-16 ; Mark 14. 1-11 ; Luke 
22. 1-6 ; John 12. 2-8. 



THE ANOINTING AT BETHANY. 

By Rev. GEO. G. PHIPPS, Newton, Mass. 

Why was this waste of the ointment made? — Mark 14. 4. 

Your mother teaches you, children, not to waste any- 
thing that is good. Even crumbs of bread you do not care 
for will feed the birdies under your window. Don't throw 
them into the fire, but put them out where the sparrows and 
chippies can get them. To burn the crumbs would be 
waste, but feeding the birds is useful. Things are not 
"wasted" which are used for a good purpose. 

And that was what Jesus meant about the ointment 
that had been poured upon his head. Somebody who saw 
the woman pour it out of the alabaster box said, as the 
ointment cost a great deal of money, "why make such a 
waste ?" But Jesus replied, ' ' The woman has done a good 
work on me." It was no waste, then, no matter how much 
the woman had paid for the rich perfume, for she had 
done good with it. She had anointed Jesus with it. Noth- 
ing done for Jesus is ever wasted. 

What can you use for Jesus, boys and girls ? 

1 . Your time ? Yes, and some of it that you waste now, 



THE ANOINTING AT BETHANY. 301 

I'm afraid. That is, you do not use it well. You idle 
away too much of it, or spend it only in silly, foolish ways. 

Playing is not wasting time : you ought to love to play — 
that's right. But to play all the time is a waste. Just as 
it is right to eat food — of course everybody has to eat ; but 
what would you say of a boy who was eating, eating, all 
of the time ! It is no more right to play every minute 
you can get, than it would be to eat every minute. Some 
of your play-time might be used, then, in doing kind deeds, 
loving deeds, for Christ. Anything you can think of which 
would please Jesus — just take some of your time and do it. 

Would Christ be pleased to have you attend church, 
sing his praises, and worship God ? then be sure to go to 
church every Sabbath. That would not be time wasted ; 
but to lie abed Sunday mornings, or to say you ' ' don't 
feel like getting ready " for church, and so to dawdle 
around the house and not go at all, is all a great waste of 
your precious time on Sundays. 

Give it to Christ instead, as the good woman gave him 
her ointment, and go to meeting, though it cost you much. 
At Wellesley College — where some of you girls may yet go 
to study and graduate some day — there are bread-plates on 
the dining-tables that have around the rim, in blue letters, 
the words "Waste not, want not.'''' Why is that a good 
motto to put around a loaf of bread ? Can you tell ? If 
one never wastes, he is not likely to come to want. And 
if you never waste your time, you will find you have a great 
many minutes, hours, and days to give to God's work, be- 
side having all you need left for yourself. You will not 
want, but have time enough. 

When Queen Elizabeth of England was dying, she said, 
" Millions of money for an inch of time !" But if she had 
spent her Sabbaths and week-days more fully in God's ser- 
vice, she would never have wanted or needed more time 
for herself — not an ' ' inch " or an hour. 



302 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

2. Cannot you use your money, too, for Jesus ? How 
often you now waste your pennies on things you do not 
need, and which do no good. If a man spends his money 
for cigars, and for drink, and becomes poor, we say, How 
he has wasted his money ! because he spent it for what 
he was better without. If you boys spend your dimes for 
cigarettes, beer, and things that you are better without, 
you too are wasting your money just as really as the in- 
temperate man is. Better use it for good things and good 
purposes — for whatever would please Christ, as you think. 
Buy a good book, and give it to some boy that has not so 
many as you have in your nice home ; or give more of 
your nickels and quarters to help send the Gospel round 
the world — to New Mexico, and Japan, and China, and 
Africa. Every little helps, you know. Think how little 
honey each separate busy bee carries to the hive all sum- 
mer long. But there are two millions of bee-hives in this 
country. And each hive brings as much as twenty-two 
pounds of honey ; so that the Government gets a revenue 
of over eight millions of dollars a year, just from the work 
of the bees — each one making but a few drops of honey, 
too. 

Can't you be a honey-gatherer ? Can't you put more of 
your pennies into God's work, and do more good than you 
have been used to doing with them ? 

If not, why is this waste of your money made ? 

If you keep on wasting time and money, and all such 
precious things, you will have to give account at last, to 
God, of 

A WASTED LIFE. 



THE PASSOVER. 303 



Bible Link— Jesus keeps the Passover— Matt. 26. 17-19 ; Mark 14. 
12-16 ; Luke 22. 7-13 ; Matt. 26. 20 ; Mark 14. 17 ; Luke 22. 14, 
24-30 ; 22. 15-18 ; John 13. 1-20 ; Matt. 26. 21-25 ; Mark 14. 18-21 ; 
Luke 22. 21-23 : John 13. 36-38. 



THE PASSOVER. 

By Rev. J. G. MERRILL, Davenport, Iowa. 

[Mark 14. 12-21.] 

The Passover was to the Jews very like Fourth of July 
to us. 

It called to mind the time when their forefathers were 
delivered out of the hands of the Egyptians, as Independ- 
ence Day calls to mind the time when our forefathers shook 
off the yoke of England. 

In some respects it was like Thanksgiving Day, because 
it was a family day. The father of the house killed a 
lamb. This was roasted whole, not a bone could be broken. 
Bread that had no yeast in it, and wine that had no alco- 
hol in it, a dish of bitter herbs and some spiced sauce was 
the rest of the meal. 

The father asked the blessing, dipped the bitter herbs 
in the sauce, and distributed them to each member of the 
family ; then he carved and passed the lamb ; he offered 
a prayer over the bread and another over the wine ; he 
told the story of the first Passover ; they all sang together, 
and the feast was over. 

The Passover had to be celebrated at Jerusalem. The 
people who lived there threw open their doors ; every 
room in all the house was a dining-room for that evening. 

As you can see, the Passover was usually a very happy 



304 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

season. But there are some times when it is hard to be 
happy. You cannot remember, but I can, how hard it 
was to celebrate Fourth of July in the dark days of the 
civil war. 

I was in college then, and one year we boys got up a 
great celebration, full of fun and frolic ; but after the cele- 
bration was over and night came on, I could have cried, so 
badly did I feel over such a celebration, when any hour we 
might hear of another awful defeat of the Union armies. 

Was it not hard last year to celebrate "the Fourth," 
when President Garfield was shot on the second, and was 
near death's door all through " the Fourth" ? 

I should think it must have been very hard for Jesus and 
his disciples to get ready for the Passover of which our 
lesson tells us. Only on Tuesday evening of that very 
week, Jesus had told his disciples that he was to be killed 
Passover week. 

Thursday morning came. Jesus and his disciples got to 
talking about the feast, and where they should celebrate it. 
Jesus told Peter and John to go to Jerusalem ; that, as 
they should enter the gate, they would meet a servant 
carrying a pitcher of water from one of the fountains. 
They were to follow him, and when they came to the house 
where he lived, tell the owner of it that Jesus wished for 
a room to eat the Passover in. The two men went, found 
the place, and had a room upstairs set apart. They then 
got ready the Passover. 

It was a dangerous thing for Jesus to show himself in 
the city at that time. The chief men hated him so much 
that they were looking for a chance to kill him. But the 
city was full of people. I suppose there were at least two 
hundred and fifty thousand families getting ready for the 
Passover, and that the very week when Jesus, the Lamb of 
God, was killed for the world, two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand lambs were slain. Of course all were busv, so that 



THE PASSOVER. 305 

as Jesus, toward evening, walked quietly from Bethany to 
the capital, no one harmed him. But Jesus was not safe 
when he had come into the upper room and was all alone 
with his disciples, for one of his chosen friends was one 
of his worst enemies. 

I do not see how Jesus could have borne the heart-ache 
which he must have had at that time, for no sooner had 
they come into the room than a quarrel sprung up among 
the disciples. They each wanted the best seat at the table. 
Hard looks and hard words followed ; and the next day he 
was to die ! 

Jesus said nothing, but quietly got up from the table, 
took a towel, laid aside his outside garment, tied the towel 
around his waist, poured some water into a large copper 
basin, and began to wash and wipe the disciples' feet. 
This was a slave's work, and it must have made the disci- 
ples feel that while they had been quarrelling over who 
should have the highest place, the Master had done the 
lowest service. 

It would seem as though this was bad enough, but no ! 
Jesus looked up while they were eating, and said : "One 
of you is to betray me." 

Do you wonder that they all began to feel that any one 
of them might be left to do almost anything that was bad ; 
so wicked they had been, that even they might be left to 
betray him ? 

One after another of them looked up to Jesus, and 
asked, " Is it I ?" " Is it I ?" Jesus did not answer them. 
At last Peter made a signal to John, who was close to 
Jesus, to find out who it was, and John whispered, " Who 
is it ?" Jesus whispered back, ' ' The one who dips his hand 
with me into the dish." Judas did it. He was the guilty 
one. And then Jesus uttered those awful words, "Woe 
to the man through whom the Son of man is betrayed ; 
good were it for that man if he had never been born." I 



306 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

do not know, my dear boys and girls, as I ever heard of a 
sadder scene than this, and the thing that made it sad was 
sin. 

Jesus would not have felt sad simply because he had got 
to die the next day. A good man does not fear death ; 
but he had to die a death which was made awful because 
men have sinned — because you and I, sinners, would need 
a Saviour from sin. 

And then to think that the twelve nearest friends that 
he had should be false to him, and one of them for a little 
money should betray him ! 

Jesus, who knows all things, knows that it were better 
never to have been born than to commit awful sin. 

To be sure he can forgive such sins, but the worst thing 
about them is, that those who do such mean and wicked 
things, do not want to be forgiven. We all do well to be 
afraid of sin, and to flee from it lest it should make us so 
wicked that Jesus would have to say of any of us, ' ' better 
had it been for that boy or girl if he had never been born." 
But if any of us are really sorry for our sins, we have a 
Saviour who is our Passover, who can take away all our 
sins ; and then it will be well for us that we have been 
born, for we shall have eternal life. 

Mr. Moody tells a beautiful legend of a little girl in 
Egypt, on the first Passover, who was sick, and whose 
father, instead of putting the blood upon the door-post 
that the death-angel might pass by the house, left it to a 
servant to attend to. The little girl felt afraid that the ser- 
vant had not put the blood on, and urged her father to go 
and see. He found no blood on the door-post ; but at 
once he had it put there. So we ought all to be anxious 
until we are sure that Christ's blood is made our own 
Passover. 



JESUS, THE CHILD'S GUIDE TO HEAVEN. 307 



Bible Link — Jesus talks with his disciples at the last supper — Matt. 
26. 31-35 ; Mark 14. 27-31 ; Luke 22. 31-38 ; John 13. 36-38 ; Matt. 
26. 26 ; Mark 14. 22 ; Luke 22. 19 ; 1 Cor. 11. 23, 24 ; John 14. 1-6. 



JESUS THE CHILD'S GUIDE TO HEAVEN.* 
By Kev. E. P. HAMMOND, Evangelist. 

In the grounds of Hampton Court, twelve miles from 
London, is a labyrinth in which Henry the Eighth, more 
than three hundred years ago, used to wander about for his 
amusement. 

One beautiful afternoon in autumn, after spending hours 
among the picture-galleries in the palace, and visiting the 
room where Oliver Cromwell parted for the last time with 
his lovely daughter, I wandered away into the park, among 
the delicate light-footed deer, and came to this labyrinth. 

I saw people entering it, and heard them say they could 
find their way out easy enough ; and I, too, was led to at- 
tempt it. It was very easy to go in a long distance ; but 
when I turned to find my way back, it was a different mat- 
ter. Whichever path among the high hawthorn hedges I 
took, I soon reached its end. I could not even find the 
people whom a little before I saw entering this strange 
place. I seemed to walk miles, and yet to be no nearer 
the end. It was getting dark, and I began to fear I might 
have to lie down upon the cold ground for the night. All 
this time a kind man had been standing upon a high tower 
near by, waiting for me to lift my eyes to him, and ask 
him to guide me out. I quickly said, ' ' Dear sir, will you 
please show me the way out of this dark place ?" " O 

* From " The Conversion of Children," by Rev. E. P. Hammond. 
Published by N. Tibbals & Sons, New York. 



308 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

yes," he replied ; and with a long stick he soon helped 
me to thread my way to the green lawn again. 

How much time and anxiety I might have been saved, 
if I had only taken this man for my guide out of this wind- 
ing puzzle ! He seemed so glad to help me, he made me 
think of the dear Jesus, who always stands ready to guide 
lost sinners in the way to heaven. His words, you know, 
are, " I am the way, and the truth, and the life." Let us 
all see if we can find that verse. Yes, here it is — John 
14. 6 — "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the 
truth, and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father but by 
me." But have you ever felt, my dear children, that you 
were lost in the dark ways of sin, and that you could not 
find the way to heaven without the help of Jesus, who died 
on the cross that he might lead you home to the mansions 
above ? You are surely lost in the dreadful labyrinth of 
sin, and you will never get out without the help of Jesus. 

And yet some of you have never really asked him to be 
your Saviour and guide, and you are every day going 
farther and farther away from him. In Rome we followed 
a guide with a lighted taper down into the Catacombs, 
which, like this labyrinth of which I have told you, wander 
off in all directions under-ground. A little before, a young 
man had left the guide, and was soon out of hearing. 
Search was made for him, but it was all in vain. Days 
and weeks passed away, and at last nothing but his bones 
were found. How closely the very thought of it made me 
cling to our guide ! This young man did not expect to be 
lost ; but he never saw the light of day after he left that 
guide. And I am afraid that some of you may be lost, 
and never see the light of heaven. You certainly never 
will, if you do not come to Jesus, and cling close by his 
side. As that guide in the Catacombs of Rome held a 
light for us, so Jesus will give you the light of his word 
all your journey through, if you will but trust in him to 



JESUS THE CHILD S GUIDE TO HEAVEN. 309 

save you from sin and be your guide. Will you ask him 
to-day ? He loves you, and wishes to take you by the 
hand and lead you along the shining path to happiness 
and glory. Will you let him, " just now ;" and sing with 
joy, "Jesus take me, just now; Jesus guide me, just 
DOW ?" 

A few days after my visit to Hampton Court, as I was 
passing along the streets of London, I fell in with a crowd 
of anxious people, who were gathered around a little girl 
on the sidewalk. She had wandered away from her home. 
One object after another had allured her along, until, as 
she began to look up and around to see where she was, she 
found she was lost. All was strange to her. She had been 
running in different directions, but could not find the way 
to her father's house. And as I saw her, she was beginniug 
to cry. Her tears were all in vain, for none of us knew the 
way to her house. At length a kind gentleman came 
along, who at once knew her, and pressing his way into the 
crowd, he took her by the hand, saying, " I know the lit- 
tle girl ; I will take her home." 

He was as willing to be her guide as was that man by 
the labyrinth at Hampton to guide me out of the maze. 

The tears of the child were soon brushed away, for she 
believed that this good man would take her straight to her 
father and mother. 

But during the past few weeks I have seen hundreds of 
children awakened to feel that they were lost, and in need 
of Jesus, who, a few days before, were as careless and 
thoughtless as was this little girl in London before she 
found she was lost ; and I have seen them weeping as 
though their hearts would break. In a day or two many 
of them had hold of Jesus' hand, and their little hearts 
were filled with joy. 

A few days ago I found a little boy about eight years of 
age, in one of these seats at the children's inquiry meeting, 



310 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

sobbing aloud. Said I, " What's the matter, my dear lit- 
tle fellow ?" 

"0 dear, I'm lost ! I'm lost ! and I can't find Jesus ! 
Oh ! my wicked heart ! How can I get a new heart ? I 
have been so wicked ! I have never loved Jesus at all ! I 
I thought I loved him, but now I know I never did. Will 
he take me ?" 

" yes !" said I. " He says, ' Him that cometh unto 
me, I will in no wise cast out.' " I tried to tell him how 
Jesus died for sinners just like him. At length we kneeled 
down in one of the pews, and, in a low tone, we prayed 
together, and the little boy asked God to take away his 
wicked heart, and help him to love the dear Jesus ; and 
that little boy, I belive, found Jesus to be ' ' the child's 
guide to heaven ;" and he is here to-day, with a smiling face 
and a singing heart. 

If indeed he is following the loving Saviour as his 
friend and guide, you will see a change in that boy's life. 

This little boy's face to-day, like many others here, is lit 
up with a radiant joy that is far brighter than that which 
shone from the face of the little girl in London, when on 
her way home ; and I trust the reason is, that he has, by 
faith, a strong hold on Jesus. I have no doubt some of 
the parents here to-day scarcely believe that their children 
are at enmity with the dear Saviour. Perhaps they have 
never found out by experience that the Bible is true, when 
it says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and des- 
perately wicked." I pray that they may learn, as many 
of you have, that it is a very wicked thing not to love that 
dear Jesus who "first loved us." Here is a letter from a 
little boy whom I found in a children's inquiry meeting in 
Brooklyn, weeping, and asking how he could get a new 
heart. He says, ' ' / thought I loved Jesus, but found 1 
was a great sinner.'''' 

I will read it to you, and I trust the dear Christians 



JESUS THE CHILD S GUIDE TO HEAVEN.. 311 

present will be lifting up their hearts to God, that all here 
may find what great sinners they are to reject the loving- 
Saviour : 

1 ' I was always in the habit of coming to Sunday-school, 
and I thought I loved Jesus, until you came and told us 
about him ; and I found that I was a great sinner to reject 
that loving Saviour who suffered so much for me. At the 
first meeting I did not care much, until a kind lady in the 
inquiry meeting came and ashed me if I loved Jesus. I did 
not make her any answer, for there were other boys in the 
seat with me. So she sat down and talked with us a long 
time, and said she would pray. for us ; and it was then I 
commenced to feel that I was a sinner, and if I did not re- 
pent of my sins, I could never enter heaven. And when I 
went home, I asked God to give me a new heart, and make 
me to love that Saviour who died for me ; and when I got 
up off my knees, I felt so happy that I could not help sing- 
ing. But still I did not say anything, for I thought the 
boys would laugh at me ; and you said we ought not to be 
ashamed of Jesus, for if we were ashamed of him, we could 
not be his lambs. So when I went home, I prayed to 
God to help me not to be ashamed of Jesus. He has 
answered my prayer, and has given me a new heart, and I 
do not think I will ever be ashamed of him again. I feel 
very happy now, since I have found Jesus. There are 
other boys and girls who have found Jesus ; and oh ! I do 
love to be at our little prayer-meetings, for I think that 
when we get to heaven we will be far happier. I love to 
read my Bible now, and before I found Jesus I never 
thought of it, except when I was in Sunday-school. But 
I love it now, and I will always love it ; and I love to pray 
to Jesus for others and myself. Pray for me. 

' ' Your Young Friend, * * *. " 

You see how happy this dear boy is, now that he has 



312 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

found Jesus to be " the child's guide to heaven." He says 
he asked God for a new heart, and He gave it to him, and 
he was so happy he could not help singing. Can some of 
you tell me what a new heart is ? (Up fly dozens of little 
hands.) Well, what is it ? 

One little boy answers — 

" It is a penitent heart." 

" What else is a new heart ?" 

" It is a Jesus-trusting heart." 

' ' Any other answer ?" 

" It is a sin-hating heart." 

" It is a singing heart." 

' ' And what else is a new heart ?" 

Another answers — 

" It is a praying heart." 

' ' Yes ; you see this little boy says, ' I love to pray to 
Jesus for others and myself.' Ah ! I see another hand up. 
Well, what is your definition of a new heart ?" 

" It is a working heart." 

"Very good. This boy, too, must have had a working 
heart. You see he did all he could to get others to follow 
Jesus, the ' guide to heaven. ' Are there any more ans- 
wers ?" 

" A Bible-loving heart." 

"Very good. If a Bible-loving heart is a new heart, 
then this boy in Brooklyn must have had a new heart ; for 
you see he says, ' ' I love to read my Bible now ; and be- 
fore I found Jesus I never thought of it, except when I was 
in Sabbath-school." 

"Are there any other answers ?" 

"A new heart," said a little girl, "is a happy heart." 

"Oh, how true ! None of us can be really happy till 
we find Jesus and get a new heart ; and we shall all find it 
to be truly a 'happy heart.' And this is another evidence 
that this boy had a new heart ; for he says, ' I was so 



JESUS THE CHILD'S GUIDE TO HEAVEN. 313 

happy I could not help singing. Let us count up some of 
these evidences of a new heart. We will place them like 
gold rings upon our fingers. Here, then, is the first on 
the left little finger. What was it ?" 

Several answer — 

"A penitent heart." 

"A Jesus-trusting heart." 

"A sin-hating heart." 

"A singing heart." 

What next ? 

"A praying heart." 

Yes, and what was the name of the " gold ring " for the 
fifth finger ? 

"A working heart." 

The sixth ? 

"A Bible-loving heart." 

And what for the next 1 

"A happy heart." 

Yes, and I see numbers here to-day whose happy faces 
seem to show that they have this new, singing, praying, 
Bible-loving, working, happy heart. Some of you, who 
only a few days ago were weeping to think how your sins 
helped to nail the hands of the dear Saviour to the cruel 
cross, I saw at work yesterday in the children's inquiry 
meeting, and by your words and prayers trying to lead 
others to trust in the dear Saviour. I am glad some of 
you seem to have the "working heart." 

I pray that the sight of these many happy faces may 
pierce the hard hearts of some older ones here to-day, and 
lead them to trust in Jesus as their Saviour and guide. I 
have in my pocket a letter from a lady in Hamilton, in 
Canada, who was first startled to think of her lost condi- 
tion by having a friend say to her at one of the children's 
meetings, "How happy these children seem ! It makes 
me happy to look at them." 



314 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

It led her to ask the question : ' ' Am I happy ? No ! 
I have all that this world can give ; hut I am not happy." 

In a few days she was among the happy young converts, 
and was ahle to rejoice in the " love of Christ, which pass- 
eth knowledge" (Eph. 3. 19). 

Now, my dear little friends, do you want this new heart ? 
The moment you believe in Jesus you have it. Let us all 
turn to Ezekiel 36. 26. Here it says, "A new heart also 
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you ; 
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and 
I will give you an heart of flesh." Jesus will not lead you 
one step towards heaven till you come to him and get rid 
of that hard, stony heart. While many have felt happy 
here to-day, and joined heartily in singing these sweet 
hymns, I have noticed that numbers were at times in tears. 
I believe that the Holy Spirit has been showing some of you 
that you are lost, and that you have wicked, hard hearts. 
And what I am afraid of is, that you will be satisfied with 
trying to get a better heart, instead of coming at once to 
Jesus for a new heart. You see the promise in this verse 
is not for a better heart, but for a new heart. 

A gentleman once bought a valuable gold watch ; but it 
did not keep time. He did not know by it when to go 
home to his dinner ; he thus sometimes lost his meals. 
He took it back to the watchmaker. He looked at it with 
his magnifying glass, and tried to find what the matter 
was ; but it was all in vain. He said to the gentleman, 
" It is a perfect watch, and must keep time." He took it 
home and tried it again, with no better success. He went 
back with it, quite angry, saying, ' ' I will not have it ; I 
don't care if it is full of jewels, it will not keep time, and 
that is what I want a watch for." 

At length the watchmaker found that one of the wheels 
was magnetized. Did he place it on his little anvil, and try 
to make it better ? No. He took the bad wheel out and 



THE LAST SUPPER. 315 

threw it away, and put a new one in its place, and then the 
watch kept good time. And that is just what you must ask 
God to do for you ; and He will, for Jesus' sake, take away 
that bad wheel in your hearts and give you a new wheel (a 
new heart) that will regulate all your actions by motives 
which you have never known before. You will then love 
the dear Jesus, and delight to follow him as your ' ' guide 
to heaven." 



Bible Lctk— John 14. 7-31 ; Matt. 26. 27-29 ; Mask 14. 23-25 ; Luke 
22. 20 ; 1 Cob. 11. 25. 



THE LAST SUPPER. 

By Eev. J. G. MERRILL. 
[Maek 14. 22-31.] 

Once in a while it happens that a family must break up 
because one of the children has made up his mind that it 
is his duty to go to a foreign land and have his home there. 

This will be the case when a son has gotten all ready to 
go as a missionary to Asia or Africa, and usually the time 
just before he is ready to start will be very precious ; and if 
the father and mother feel as though they can endure it, 
they will have a family meeting and gather around the 
table for the last time. 

At snch a meeting there will quite often be nieces and 
nephews of the man who is going away from home ; boys 
and girls who wonder, perhaps, why grandma has tears in 
her eyes everv now and then, and why grandpa's voice 
chokes when he gives thanks, and why the uncle who is 
going away tries so hard to be jolly, and makes such poor 
work at it. 

He is to be gone ten years, and by that time the boys 
and girls will be very apt to have forgotten him entirely. 



316 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

unless there should be something to remind them of him. 
So when supper is nearly done, a package is brought in ; 
the string is untied and it is handed to grandma. She 
opens it, she looks a moment at it, and then turning to 
her missionary son, says: "Why, John, this is you ex- 
actly !" and John, turning to the boys and girls, says : 
f ' Yes, I thought you would want to have something to 
show to these grandchildren, so that they should not for- 
get me ; and as often as you point at it hanging on the 
wall and say, " This is uncle John," they will think of me 
away off in Asia. 

It was with some such thought as this that Jesus had a 
last supper with his disciples, his family, just before he 
went to the cruel death on the cross ; but, instead of a 
portrait, or picture, he gave them bread which they were 
to look upon as it was broken, and think of his body 
broken for them ; and a cup of wine, which, as it was 
poured out, should remind them of his life-blood poured 
out for them. 

There are a great many things used to help keep in 
mind those whom we love. More than two hundred years 
ago a good minister, trying to make people understand the 
meaning of the Last Supper, said it is like a pledge or 
token of love left by a dying friend to one who is to live 
after he is dead. It is like a ring that Jesus took off his 
finger, or a bracelet from his arm, or his picture from his 
breast, saying, ' ' As often as you look on this, remember 
me." 

Now when Jesus had given his disciples this token, they 
all took it. 

How unkind it would have been for any of the disciples 
to have said, "I do not think I will taste the bread or 
drink the wine. I do not see any use in it. I shall never 
forget what you have done for me." 

If Jesus gives anything to those who love him to help 



THE LAST SUPPER. 31 7 

them love him now, certainly it is the least they can do 
to take it. What would you think of a boy who should 
have a picture of his father given to him to remember 
how his father looked, and asked to look at it once in a 
month, if he should throw it into his trunk or let it get hid 
among the rubbish and never look at it ? 

It is Jesus' wish that all who love him should eat the 
bread and drink the wine at communion ; and I do not 
understand how anybody who really loves Jesus can refuse 
to do it. 

But it will not always come about, that all who do eat 
the bread and drink the wine will remember Jesus. I sup- 
pose there was no one more eager to do these things at 
the first communion than was Peter. But no sooner had 
they all sung their hymn together, than Jesus had to tell 
Peter and the rest that they would desert him. " No, in- 
deed," said Peter; "all the rest may forget you, but I 
will not." But Jesus said, " Certainly you will. Before 
the morning comes, you will deny me three times." This 
was more than Peter could bear, and he cried out, " If I 
must die with thee, I will not deny thee." 

But, as you all know, he did deny his Master. And yet 
for all this Jesus — knowing that Peter was going to deny 
him so soon — did not tell him that he must not take the 
bread and wine, for he knew also that Peter would be very 
sorry that he denied his Master, and would be forgiven. 
And Jesus knows that there is no one of us strong enough 
or good enough to keep from doing him wrong, although 
we may have eaten the bread and drank the wine of the 
communion. And certainly it ought to be a help, as we 
are trying to be true to Christ, to obey his command to 
remember him. 

We can remember him as our Saviour, who saves us 
from our sins, just as a boy would remember the man who 
took him out of the water when he was near drowning. 



318 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

We can remember him as the Saviour of all who have ever 
loved him. 

What a long, long table the Lord's table is ! All who have 
ever loved him belong to the one family of which he is the 
head. He knows them all by name, and all belong to the 
Saviour's table, although there are very many more who 
have died than are now living. We can remember him 
who has promised never to forget us, and who is waiting 
until we shall get through this world's work and worry, 
when he will take us to himself, where we shall not need 
the bread to remind us of his body, nor the wine to tell us 
of his blood ; but we shall see him face to face, and never 
forget him for a moment of all the long years of eternity. 



Bible Link — Jesus continues to teach his disciples at the Last Sup- 
per— John 15. 1-27 ; 16. 1-33. Jesus prays for his disciples— John 
17. 1-26. Jesus sweats blood in awful agony in Gethsemane — 
Matt. 26. 30, 36^6 ; Mark 14. 26, 32-42 ; Luke 22. 39-46 ; John 18. 1. 



THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. 

Br Rev. J. G. MERRILL. 

[Mark 14. 32-42.] 

It is strange how differently things appear by moonlight 
from their appearance when the sun is shining. There are 
only two distinct colors instead of many. Shapes are 
changed. Everything has a " weird look," people say. 

It was such a night with a full moon in the month of 
April, when a little company of twelve men went into an 
orchard of very large olive trees, not more than a half mile 
from the wall of Jerusalem. They had often been to the 
same place before, but never when there was so much sor- 
row in their hearts as now, for they had learned that the 



THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN. 319 

leader of their company was to be killed the next day. I 
should have thought that they would hardly have dared go 
into the weird garden. But their leader had told them to 
follow him thither ; and although it was very late, no one 
stirring on the walls but the watchman as he called out the 
hours, they went. 

When they came to the garden, or orchard, eight of the 
men were told to go no farther. Three went on with the 
Master into the dark shadows. Then they were told to 
watch and wait while he should go a little farther to pray. 
The leader was now alone, sometimes kneeling, sometimes 
lying with his face upon the ground, as he prays. 

After a little while he came back to the three men, and 
found them fast asleep. He wakened them and went again 
to pray. Then he returned a second time and found them 
asleep again. He asked them if they could not keep awake 
to watch with him one hour ; and, if they had looked care- 
fully, they could have seen drops of blood like sweat upon 
his face, although the nights in that country in April are 
very cold. He went away alone once more to pray ; and 
when he returned again the third time, the three men were 
sleeping. 

Do you wonder that he was very sad ? What made him 
sad ? Was it because he was going to die ? He was a 
young man, but little more than thirty years old. He 
loved to live ; he had a mother whom he loved tenderlv ; 
he had these eleven and other friends who loved him, and 
whom he did not want to leave without a leader. There 
were many beautiful walks among the hills and rides upon 
the lakes of his native land, that he would have to leave. 
It would be hard to die. But that was not all. 

What made him sad ? He was a prophet, and could tell 
what was going to happen in the future. He knew that it 
would only be a few moments before a mob would come to 
kill him. That before morninn; his back would smart and 



320 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

ache as lie was whipped. That thorns would be pressed 
into his forehead. That he would be fastened with nails 
through his hands upon a cross and die between two thieves, 
and all the people would think him the worse of the three. 
All this, and more, he could see. Was it this that made 
him sad ? It was enough to do it, but there was something 
more. 

What made him sad ? He loved his native land, the 
beautiful capital. Only a few days before he had caught 
a view of the city from a hill-top, and as he saw it the 
tears fell down his cheeks as he said, ' ' I would often have 
cared for you as a hen careth for the chickens beneath 
its wings, but ye would not." And he could see the armies 
sweeping over the whole land, killing men, women, and 
children, until the rivers run with blood, while the homes 
and temple of the holy city were burned with fire. Jesus 
was a patriot, and as a patriot this was enough to have made 
him pray, and weep while he prayed, for his native land. 
But this was not all. 

Why was he sad ? Sin made him sad. I do not know 
how, and therefore I cannot tell you how sin appeared to 
Jesus that night, nor what the thought of his heart was 
when he thought of sin. It must have been an awful hour. 
The time had come when the words which Isaiah spoke so 
long ago were to come true. You remember the words as 
they are written in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah : "He 
hath borne our griefs ; he was wounded for our sins ; he 
was bruised because we had done wrong ; he was punished 
that we might be forgiven ; by his stripes were we healed. 
The Lord laid upon him the sins of us all. He was smitten 
of God and afflicted." 

This it was that made him sad ; and although none of 
us can at all tell what it means for him to bear our sins, 
we can know enough to know that it must have been an 
awful hour in that night in the garden, when Jesus prayed, 



JESUS BETRAYED AXD TAKEN. 321 

and passed through trials that made him sweat great drops 
of blood. 

And when we think of it, and remember that it was for 
onr sins, as well as for the sins of the rest of the world, 
that he had to pass through this hour, should we not ask 
him to keep us from being careless, as were the men who 
slept, and also from thinking lightly of our sins ; and more 
than that, ask him to keep us from all sin — from that dread- 
ful thino; which of all thino-s makes him most sad ? 



Bible Like:— Jesus is betrayed — Matt. 26. 47-56 ; Mark 14. 43-52 ; 
Luke 22. 47-53 ; John 18. 2-12. 



JESUS BETRAYED AXD TAKEN. 
By Key. J. G. MERRILL. 

[Mark 14. 43-54.] 

A mob went out of the city. It was light, although it 
was near midnight. The moon was full. They carried 
lanterns and torches, for they were going where the trees 
were thick, and he whom they were seeking to catch might 
hide in some of the defiles which were not lighted by the 
moon. 

It was a mixed company, as all mobs are. There were 
private citizens, there were policemen who had charge of 
the temple, and a few soldiers. Some of the company 
had swords, others spears, others clubs. They had a guide — 
oh, such a sneaking man ! — who for a little money had 
agreed to tell the mob where his Master was, so that they 
might catch him. As they went along, the guide said : 
1 ' When we find him I will kiss him, and then you will 
know who he is.'' He was in such a hurry to do his part 
that he got in front of all the rest. His Master met him, 



322 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

saying, "Comrade, what a crime you are committing!" 
The man still pressed forward, saying, "Master, Master, 
peace be to thee !" and kissed him. 

"Judas," said the Master, "do you betray me with a 
kiss ?" Here stepped forward another comrade, Peter, an 
older man than his Master, saying, ' ' Shall we smite with 
the sword ?" and before Jesus could answer, the mob was 
upon him. 

They came into the shade of the wood, and he met 
them. He asked : " Whom do you look for ?" " Jesus 
of Nazareth," one of them replied. " I am he," said he. 
They did not know what to think of such a fearless man, 
and all fell back as though an army had met them. Again 
he asked, ' ' Whom do you look for ?" Again they re- 
plied, "Jesus of Nazareth." " I told you that I am he ; 
if then you look for me, let my comrades and friends go 
away." 

They all fled, but not until after Peter had drawn his 
sword, and, intending to cut off a man's head, had cut off 
his ear, and Jesus had told them that he wished no such 
weapons — that he was going to give himself up, even 
though for the asking for it he could have twelve thousand 
angels to fight for him. Jesus then asked the mob to wait 
a moment, until he could heal the ear of the wounded man. 

They did so, and then they bound him and led him 
away to the city ; Peter and one other friend being the 
only ones who thought it best to follow him ; and they kept 
at a great distance from him, for, as the mob went along, it 
grew larger and more dangerous, until at last Jesus asked, 
' ' Are you come out as against a robber, with swords and 
staves to seize me ? I was daily with you in the temple, 
teaching, and ye took me not : but this is done that the 
scripture might be fulfilled." 

And now having called to mind these facts, let us stop a 
moment and think of them. My first thought is that the 



JESUS BETRAYED AND TAKEN. 323 

best man the world has ever seen was treated as though he 
was the very worst. If Jesus had stolen horses, or broken 
into houses, or killed some of the citizens of Jerusalem, he 
ought not to have been treated as badly as he was when he 
had been healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, hear- 
ing to the deaf, and raising the dead. Mobs are always 
acting without reason, and never was there one more un 
reasonable than this, treating the best of men as though he 
were the worst. 

My second thought is that Jesus used his power for oth- 
ers, not himself. He stopped to heal the man's ear, but 
did nothing to save himself. All the angels of heaven 
would have come, if he would only have said the word, and 
rescued him, not only from that mob, but from a mob ten 
thousand times as large. But no ; it was time for him to 
die, and he was glad to do it, and would do nothing to 
save his life. 

My third thought is that it was a most awful thing to 
treat Jesus as they did, because he was such a being as he 
was. It is an awful thing to treat a house-thief unlawfully ; 
but when it comes to treating the Son of God as Jesus was 
treated, what can be said ? You remember how the nation 
felt when a wretch fired a pistol to kill President Garfield ! 
Had he fired it at a pickpocket or a murderer, it would 
have been different. Had he fired it at the ticket-agent or 
baggage-man, it would not have been as bad as it was ; but 
to try to kill the President of the United States was an 
awful crime, that made the whole world feel that there was 
nothing — either shooting or hanging the assassin — which 
could tell how awful it was to shoot the President. 

But when God becomes man, and a mob goes to his 
place of prayer and treats him like a very villain, all that 
we can say is that there must be some very important rea- 
son for such a thing being done, or God would never have 
allowed it to be done ; and the reason was this — we had 



324 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

sinned, and our sins could only be forgiven by such shame 
and suffering on the part of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. 



Bible Link— Jesus is brought before Annas and Caiaphas, in whose 
house Peter denies him — Matt. 26. 57, 58, 69-75 ; Mark 14. 53, 54, 
66-72 ; Luke 22. 5t-62 ; John 18. 13-18, 24-27. Jesus is brought 
before the whole Jewish council — Matt. 26. 57, 59-68 ; Mark 14. 
53, 55-65 ; Luke 22. 66-71, 63-65 ; John 18. 19-23, 28. 



JESUS BEFORE THE COUNCIL. 

By Rev. J. G. MERRILL. 
[Mark 14. 55-72.] 

I suppose most of you boys and girls have never seen a 
mob. Some of you live in the newer towns of the fron- 
tier, and may have known the time when the meanest men of 
the place have gathered together and armed themselves 
with all kinds of weapons, and gone through the streets 
determined to do some desperate thing. Usually in such 
a case, there will be enough people in the town who will 
be anxious to have the law obeyed, who will come out 
against the mob, to make them go to their homes and be 
quiet. 

But once in a while it happens that the officers of the 
law and the leading men of the town side with the mob. 
This was the case in Jerusalem, at the time when Jesus 
was killed. In fact, the men who ought to have kept the 
city quiet and orderly, were the very ones to stir up the 
mob. 

Jesus had to face all this. He did not have a single 
friend to stand by him. "What had he done to merit such 
treatment ? — the whole city against him, and no one to help 
him ! "We can all see how such a wretch as Guiteau can 



JESUS BEFORE THE COUNCIL. 325 

be without a friend. He does not deserve any. He has 
been so utterly mean that no one would ever do anything 
for him, except out of pity. But Jesus had no one to tell 
him even that he pitied him. What could he have done 
even worse than Guiteau, that he should be treated worse ? 
Nothing ! He had been about doing good — had healed the 
sick, given sight to the blind, raised the dead, preached 
the good news of salvation — never had he done a single 
mean or wicked, nor even an unkind act. And yet, the 
leading men of the city met together in the night and tried 
to make out that they ought to be rid of him. They tried 
to find people willing to tell lies concerning him, so that 
by this means they could have an excuse for putting him 
to death. They failed in this. Then they tried to make 
it out that he had said something against the temple. 
This was not much better for them, for they could not find 
two men to agree that they heard him say anything worthy 
of being remembered against him. 

At last the judge — who ought to have done all that he 
could to see to it that law was not used against Jesus — 
got up from his seat and tried to make Jesus say some- 
thing that could be used against him. He asked him a ques- 
tion which, if Jesus should answer, it would be easy to put 
him to death. He had no right to ask the question. He 
did not care for that. All he wanted was to get a chance 
to condemn him. The time had come for Jesus to die. 
He answered the question just as the judge hoped that he 
would, and then the judge, pretending to be very much 
shocked by the words that Jesus had spoken, tore his gar- 
ments and said that Jesus must die. All the lawyers and 
wise men who were in the court-room at the time said the 
same, and Jesus was left to the mob. 

It is perfectly awful the way they treated him ! Some 
of them spit upon him as though he were less than a dog. 
Others put their hands over his eyes and struck him, and 



326 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

said impudent words to him. Even the officers of the 
law joined in the outrage. 

But all this while where were the men whom Jesus had 
chosen as his friends, and for whom he had done so much ? 
Where were John, Peter, Andrew, and the rest of his dis- 
ciples ? John was somewhere in the room. He could hear 
and see all that was being said and done, but he could not 
do or say anything to help him. If he had tried to do it, 
quite likely he would have been killed on the spot. 

Peter. O dear ! he was out in the street — perhaps had 
gotten beyond the walls of the city — crying as though his 
heart would break. Why was he crying ? Because Jesus 
was being treated as he was ? No ! but because he had 
been so mean and cowardly as to not only keep quiet, but 
to say that he had never known Jesus. He had lied and 
sworn as he denied the man who he knew was the best 
friend he had ever had. It is not strage that he was cry- 
ing. Only a few hours before, he had told Jesus that if 
everybody else in the world should desert him, he would 
not — that he would die with him, if need be. But no 
sooner had he come into danger, than he was scared out of 
all his bravery. It was a cold night, and to warm himself 
he had sat down by the fire in the room where Jesus was. 
The flames shone in his face. One of the servant girls knew 
him, and told him that he was a friend of Jesus. Peter 
said he was not. The same thing was said to him again. 
No, he said, I am not. A third time it was said by another 
person, that he was a friend of Jesus. Then Peter began 
to curse and to swear, and to say, " I never knew the man." 
Just then he looked up, and saw Jesus looking at him. It 
called to mind how dear Jesus had been to him, and now 
he was utterly mean to Jesus. He thought it over for an 
instant, and burst into tears. 

I suppose you boys and girls are saying to yourselves, I 
don't believe I would do any such thing as that. But we 



JESUS BEFORE PILATE. S2l 

do not any of us know what we would have done. We 
quite likely would have been no stronger or braver than 
Peter or John. I have seen boys and girls in these days 
when Jesus has so many friends, who have not dared to 
own that they were friends of Jesus. 

How mean it is to be ashamed of our friends ! I heard 
of a young man from Vermont who went to Boston. He 
became " wild," and was very fond of wild boys. He was 
taken sick. His young men friends left him to himself. 
His widow mother heard of her son's trouble, took her hard- 
earned savings and went to Boston to care for her boy. 
By her kind care and nursing he began to get well. Then 
his young friends began to appear. He was glad to see 
them, but looking upon the bent form of his mother, her 
gray hair and wrinkled face, he was ashamed to own her 
as his mother, and introduced her to his young friends as 
his nurse. Mean, mean young man ! do you all say. But 
is he less mean who dare not own his Saviour ? 



Bible Link— Jesus is taken before Pilate— Matt. 27. 1, 2, 11-14; 
Mark 15. 1-5 ; Luke 23. 1-5 ; John 18. 28-38. Pilate sends Jesus 
to Herod— Luke 23. 6-12. Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate, who 
seeks to release him— Matt. 27. 15-23 ; Mark 15. 6-14 ; Luke 23. 
13-23 ; John 18. 39, 40. Pliate at length scourges Jesus and de- 
livers him to be crucified — Matt. 27. 26-31 ; Mark 15. 15-20 ; Luke 
23. 23-25 ; John 19. 1-16. 

JESUS BEFORE PILATE. 

By Rev. J. G. MERRILL. 

[Mark 5. 1-15.] 

It was not far from six o'clock in the morning when 
Jesus was led from the council chamber of the Jews to the 
judgment-hall of Pilate. The enemies of Jesus among 
the Jews, the priests and scribes, have had a secret meet- 



328 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

ing. They had made up their minds to go to the governor 
and get his leave to put Jesus to death. And now with a 
vast mob, howling, yelling, and demanding his death, they 
led him over the same road that only four days before 
Jesus had gone over, surrounded by a great company sing- 
ing to his praise. They came at length to the palace which 
also served as barracks for the soldiers and a court room. 
At first the Jews were not going to tell Pilate what they 
had brought Jesus there for. They were simply going to 
have him see what a mob there was, and that the only way 
to quell it was to have Jesus put to death. 

But the Governor, Pilate, was a Roman, and Romans 
everywhere were very careful to have it understood that 
they paid very great respect to law. He told the Jews, 
therefore, that they must show some reason why Jesus 
should be put to death ; or, as men say nowadays, must 
make some charge against him. They made three charges. 
That he was perverting the people ; that he was forbid- 
ding to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor ; and that he had 
called himself king. Jesus said nothing in answer to any 
of these charges. Pilate was very much astonished at his 
silence. So he took him within the fortress, to give him a 
more quiet examination. He did not know, very likely, 
that it was a lie that Jesus perverted the people — meaning 
that he was a leader of a mob. He did not know that 
Jesus had told the people to pay taxes to the emperor, in- 
stead of forbidding them to do it, as the Jews charged. 
Nor did he know that in the sense in which they meant it, 
that it was a lie that Jesus had called himself king. 

Pilate seemed to want to know the truth about these 
matters. He said to Jesus, " Are you king of the Jews ?" 
Jesus did not keep silence ; but because Pilate had a right 
to ask such a question, he answered it. He said, " Yes." 
But what did Jesus mean ? Pilate learned, as you and I 
know, that when Jesus called himself king, he meant noth- 



JESUS BEFORE PILATE. 329 

ing more than that, as he said, he was king in the kingdom 
of truth. He had never taught his followers to go to war 
against the Romans and for the sake of the Jews, although 
many of his disciples were eager to do it. He had never 
had any captains or generals or private soldiers. He had 
never had any palace or court, and what is more, had never 
planned to have them. 

Pilate was very much puzzled. He asked Jesus other 
questions, and then made up his mind that he was not 
guilty of the charges made against him. 

He came out of the room where he had been asking 
Jesus these questions, to tell the people that Jesus was not 
guilty. But while he had been talking with him, the chief 
priests and scribes had been going around among the mob, 
and telling them not to be satisfied with anything short of 
the death of Jesus. 

Pilate tried to change the mind of the mob. It would 
have been just as easy for him to have changed the wind. 
He thought, perhaps, that he could persuade them to let 
him pardon Jesus, as he always was in the habit of pardon- 
ing some one at that time of the year. But he ought to 
have known that he could not pardon anybody who had 
been guilty of nothing to pardon. It was a great mistake 
to talk about pardoning, for it was as much as to say that 
Jesus was guilty. His voice could do nothing against the" 
many voices of the chief priests and scribes, who were 
going busily about among the people, urging them to ask 
that Jesus should be crucified, and that if Pilate should 
pardon anybody, it should be Barabbas, a robber. Pilate 
did nothing. He gave up. He told the mob to take Jesus 
and crucify him. Mark, who writes the story which you 
are studying, does not tell many things that are told by 
the other men who wrote of Jesus' trial ; and from what 
he tells us we might almost think that Pilate ought not to 
be blamed. 



330 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

But we may learn that he ought to be blamed, from three 
things. 1st. He thought that it was envy that had brought 
Jesus to trial, and he knew that no man ought to be put to 
death because others envied him. 2d. He knew that Jesus 
was guilty of none of the charges that were made against 
him, and therefore he ought not to be punished for any 
of them. 3d. He knew that Jesus was a good man, and 
no governor has a right to take a good man's life. 

But Pilate was a coward. He feared the mob, although 
he had power to put it down. He feared the leaders of the 
mob, although he had them in his power. He feared that 
he would lose his place. He was willing to do an awful 
wrong for the sake of helping himself. 

How different was Jesus ! He knew no fear. He was 
afraid neither of the mob nor of the governor. He held 
firmly to the truth — was willing to die for the truth. He 
alone of all was true. 

Pilate put Jesus to death. In a few days Jesus was alive. 
He is alive still. In a few years Pilate was dead. He lost 
his kingdom, and the great Roman empire came to an end, 
while the kingdom of truth, of which Jesus is king, still 
stands, and is stronger to-day than ever before. 

All the boys and girls who hear this sermon have been 
asked to belong to this kingdom, and to be like the king 
who, 1st, Feared to do nothing except the wrong ; 2d, 
Dared to do right ; 3d, Lives as long as truth lasts — and 
truth lasts forever. 



SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF JESUS. 331 



Bible Link— Judas is filled with remorse and commits suicide— 
Matt. 27. 3-10 ; Acts 1. 18, 19. Jesus is led away to be crucified — 
Matt. 27. 32-34 ; Mark 15. 21-23 ; Luke 23. 26-33 ; John 19. 17. 
What happened when Jesus was on the cross — Matt. 27. 35-50 ; 
Mark 15. 24-26. 



THE SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF JESUS. 
By Rev. E. P. HAMMOND, Evangelist. 

Let us open our Bibles, and spend a few moments in 
following the steps of our dear Saviour from the garden of 
Gethsemane to the cross of Calvary. In Luke 22. 42-44, 
we hear him saying, 

"Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me : and being 
in an agony he prayed more earnestly ; and his sweat was as it were 
great drops of blood falling down to the ground." 

The thought of being treated as a sinner, and having God 
turn His face away from him, made the bloody sweat pour 
down his brows. But oh, dear children, he saw that there 
was no other way for us to be saved ; and he loved us so 
much that he was willing to die for us, and so, in Matt. 
26. 42, we hear him saying, 
" Thy will be done." 

Let us read on in this twenty-second chapter of Luke, 
forty-fifth verse. 

"And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disci- 
ples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto them, Why 
sleep ye ? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. And while 
he yet spake, behold, a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one 
of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus, to kiss 
him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of 
man with a kiss?" 

We learn from the twelfth and thirteenth verses of the 
eighteenth chapter of John, that 



332 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

" The captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him, 
and led him away to Annas first." 

In the fifty-fourth, verse, we see him again taken and led 
to Caiaphas the high priest's house. And we see, at the 
sixty-third verse, how cruelly they treated the Son of God, 
who made all things : 

"And the men that held Jesus mocked him and smote him. And 
when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and 
asked him saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee ?" 

In Mark 14. 65, it says, 

" Some began to spit on him, and buffet him." 

That is, they struck him with the clenched fist. 

" And the servants did strike him with the palms of their hand." 

O how wonderful, that he should have borne all so meek- 
ly and willingly for you and me ! And what hard hearts 
we have had, not to love him in return ! But this was not 
all. In the first verse of the twenty-third chapter of Luke, 

" And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate, 
and they began to accuse him." 

Fourth verse : 

" Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no 
fault in him. And they were the more fierce." 

Oh ! how like ravening wolves they thirsted for his blood, 
saying, 

" He stirreth up the people throughout all Jewry, beginning from 
Galilee to this place." 

AYhen Pilate heard that he 

"Belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod." 

And now, in the eleventh verse, we see, that after a 
mock trial, 

"Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, 
and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate." 



SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF JESUS. 333 

In John 19, we see how this wicked Roman officer 
treated the Son of God. 

" Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him, and the soldiers plat- 
ted a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put on him a 
purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews I and they smote him 
with their hands. Pilate, therefore, went forth again, and saith unto 
them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I 
find no fault in him." 

With a great whip he caused him to be lashed, till, no 
doubt, big drops of blood ran down his back. 

Xo, my dear children, if Pilate could have justly found 
any fault in him, he could never have been our guide to 
heaven. He never did one wrong thing in all his life. 
Yes, he who knew no sin was made sin for us. 

"Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the 
purple robe." 

The crown- jewels which encircled Queen Victoria's brow 
are guarded by wakeful eyes, day and night, in the great 
Tower of London. They cost millions of dollars. Crowds 
daily flock to see them. But Jesus, the King of kings, 
wore this cruel crown of thorns, that you and I, rebels 
against God, might wear a crown of glory. Sixth verse : 

"When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried 
out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him." 

Sixteenth verse : 

"And they took Jesus and led him away. And he, bearing his 
cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is 
called in the Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him." 

They laid the cross down upon the ground and then took 
some nails, and drove them through his hands and feet. 
Hark ! can you not almost hear the hammer as it drives 
those rusty spikes through his sensitive hands ? Legions 
of angels are ready to deliver him, and are able to destroy 
those wicked men. But no ; the Son of God is being 
" TVounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities ;" 



334 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

for only by his stripes can we be healed. In agony of soul, 
more than of body, he cries : 

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" 
He was forsaken for our sake. And the words of Jesus to 
you, are : 

" Look unto me, and be ye saved." (Isa. 45. 22.) 

It SEEMS SO STRANGE TO ME, THAT WHEN JeSUS HAS DONE 
SO MUCH FOR US, THERE SHOULD BE ANY HERE WHO DO NOT 

love him. An anxious little girl among the inquirers in 
Dundee, in Scotland, where the holy Robert M'Cheyne 
was so dearly loved by the children, said in an inquiry 
meeting that her heart was so wicked she could not love 
the Saviour. She seemed to feel her sins to be very great, 
but declared she could not love Jesus. As she appeared 
to have learned that she needed an entire " new heart," 
and not a "better heart," we began to tell her more about 
what Christ had done for lost sinners. In a few moments 
she looked up with a happy smile, saying — 

"I can't help loving him. Oh, I wonder I never 

LOVED HIM BEFORE, WHEN HE LOVED ME SO MUCH AS TO BE 
WILLING TO SUFFER PUNISHMENT AND DEATH FOR ME." 

Why, if an earthly friend had done half as much for 
you as has this One, who so ' ' well deserves the name of 
Friend," I am sure you would not be so ungrateful as not 
to love him in return. 

This reminds me of a touching story about a party who 
determined to climb to the top of Mount Washington, more 
than six thousand feet high. But they rejected the Guide.. 
Just as this party of ladies and gentlemen were leaving the 
hotel at the foot of Mount Washington, the proprietor 
urged them to take one of his guides. 

"We do not wish a guide," they said. "We are de- 
termined to find our own way to the ' Tip-top House. 7 " 



SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF JESUS. 335 

"But," said he, "I will let you Lave one for half 
price." 

"No; we do not want one, even at half price. We 
can find our way well enough alone. We will follow the 
path, and so will soon find our way to the hotel at the top 
of the mountain, and there we shall get a good supper and 
all we need." 

"You may get lost," said the hotel-keeper, "without a 
guide ; and rather than have you go alone, I will send 
with you all the way a good faithful guide for nothing." 

' ' No, we won't have him, even for nothing ; we want 
to do something that will astonish our friends." 

" But it is very dangerous." 

" We are strong, and will risk it." 

"Suppose you find yourselves in a snow-storm, what 
would the ladies do ?" 

One of them laughed and said, "That would be very 
nice. A snow-storm in summer ! I hope we will see one." 

"Yes, yes," they shouted ; "then we will roll up some 
snow-balls, and see them go rushing down the mountain- 
side till they become small avalanches." 

And so, with hearts full of hope, they started off for the 
top of Mount Washington. On they went, gay as larks, 
for a few miles, till they got near the top and they saw a 
white cloud above them. Up, up they went into it. They 
found what I have often seen in Switzerland — a snow- 
storm among the mountains, while the sun was pouring its 
warm rays upon the people in the valley below. 

" Isn't this fun !" said one and another. And so it was 
for a short time ; but after awhile the snow became so deep 
they could not see the path. Ah ! then the ' ' fun " was at 
an end, and they began to think of the warning words of 
the proprietor of the hotel, who offered them a guide for 
nothing. 

" how I wish we had that guide now !" said one. 



336 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

" But it's too late to go back for him ; we must find our 
way alone," said another. And so they struggled on, 
sometimes going quite out of the way. 

Darkness came, and they were lost ! lost in the deep 
snow ! But they kept moving upward as well as they 
could. The two ladies got so tired they could not walk 
another step. It was dreadfully cold, and so they sank 
down in the deep, cold snow, and waited for daylight to 
come to show them the way to the " Tip-top House." In 
the morning, the storm had all cleared away, and as the 
keepers of that house looked out they saw — only a little 
way off, not much more than a stone's throw — the half-bur- 
ied party. They went to them at once, but it was too late 
to save the life of one beautiful young lady, who had 
frozen to death during that awful night ; and all because she, 
with the rest, had said, " We don't want the guide /" 

When I was at the top of Mount Washington, a few 
summers ago, I saw a great pile of stones which had been 
thrown together over the spot where this' young lady was 
found cold in death. 

How foolish they were not to accept the guide offered to 
them so freely. But suppose they had taken him, and he 
had lost his life just as he had got them all safe in the 
warm hotel, how would the party have felt toward him ? 
Jesus, who "is the child's guide to heaven," had to die a 
dreadful death on the cross, before he could lead sinful 
children there. Yes, my dear little friend, he died in 
your place, so that God might forgive you all your sins. 

And now he is ready to take you with him all through 
the journey of life, safely home to the Golden City. 

One day, as the train entered the depot at Rochester, 
N. Y., I saw a crowd of people gathering around a little 
boy whom the conductor was leading out of one of our 
cars. Everybody in that crowd seemed anxious to get 
even a look at the little fellow ; and so I Avaited round to 



SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF JESUS. 337 

find out what it was all about. Soon a young gentleman 
who knew me, came and told me something that interested 
me very much ; and I think it will interest you too, my 
little friends, when you hear the story. 

This boy, who did not look over three years old, had 
been off alone, twenty miles on the railway. And what 
do you think took him so far alone? " How came his 
mother to let him go ?" I can hear you ask. But she 
didn't let him go ; he ran away down to the station all 
alone, and got into the train by himself, just as it was 
starting ; and away went the little man twenty miles before 
anybody knew where he was. 

But now you say, ' ' "What made him do such a strange 
thing ?" I will tell you. 

He loved his father very much, because his father used 
to be very kind to him, and bring him home toys, and 
playthings, and picture-books, and candies, and lots of 
good things. He thought there was nobody quite so good 
as his father, and he felt sure nobody loved him so much. 
But his father had some business in California, thousands 
of miles away, and so one day he told his wife and chil- 
dren that he must leave them all and go there. Little 
Frankie at once said, " Can't I go with you, papa ?" 

"No, my child; it is too far to go with me." This 
made the little fellow cry bitterly. "When the time came 
for the father to set out, little Frankie was not allowed to 
go to the railway station with him. But after a while he 
found a way to get out, and off he scampered to the station 
with all his might. Just as he reached there, he saw a 
train about to start, and he thought, of course, that his 
father must be in that train, and into it the little boy 
climbed, and went all through the cars looking for his dear 
father. After he had ridden about twenty miles, the con- 
ductor chanced to get hold of him ; and having found out 
his name, telegraphed back to his mother, and then gave 



338 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

him to a conductor of a train they met, and thus he was 
taken back to Rochester to his home. It was his own 
brother who told me all this. 

And what -do you think / thought of, when I looked 
upon the face of that persevering little fellow, and knew 
how determined he had been to find his father, and go with 
him to California ? I will tell you. 

I said to myself, " Oh ! I wish that little children, even 
as young as three or four years old, were everywhere so 
anxious to go with the child's guide to heaven. He has 
done ten thousand times more for them than ever that 
father did for little Frankie." This dear Jesus loves you, 
my little friends, more than that father loved his little boy 
Frankie ; and he is the only one that can take you home 
to your Father in heaven. He is also willing to give you a 
new heart, so that you will love God and all good things. 

You remember that poor little Frankie was disappoint- 
ed because he could not go with his father ; but there never 
was a boy or girl who really wanted to go with Jesus, but 
that he was ready to take them, and make them fit for 

A USEFUL AND HAPPY LIFE HERE, AND A JOYFUL LIFE IN 
HEAVEN FOREVER. 

But, as we saw when I was reading the Bible, before 
Jesus could offer himself as our guide, he had to die in 
our stead that dreadful death on the cross ; there he had 
to suffer for our sins that we might be forgiven. And yet 
there are some here to-day who I fear do not love him at 
all. You hate him ; you speak lightly of him ; you pro- 
fane his name ; you are ashamed of him. Perhaps yes- 
terday you were unwilling your own dear mother should 
know you wanted to find the way to heaven. You have 
often heard how he loved you, and yet you have never loved 
him in return. Does not this show that you have wicked 
hearts ? Some of you I see are in tears. But weeping 
will not save yon. All that you can do is to confess all 



SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF JESUS. 339 

this — confess that you have been very wicked in not lov- 
ing him at all, when he has loved you so much. Here is 
a precious promise for you in 1 John 1. 9 — " If we confess 
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and 
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 
"Will you not say — 

"Just as I am, and waiting not 
To rid my soul of one dark blot, 
To thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
O Lamb of God, I come !" 

Yes, the dear Jesus is here, full of love ; he sees your 
tears ; he sees you wandering in the dark labyrinth of sin ; 
he hears all your sighs ; his tender, loving words are, ' ' Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest" (Matt. 11. 28). How can you reject him, 
when he so gently knocks at the door of your heart ? 

Shall we then ' ' just now " bow our heads in prayer, and 
" come to Jesus V Will you repeat after me these words ? 
(All bowed their heads, and in a subdued tone repeated 
aloud after Mr. H., one by one, these sentences of prayer.) 

Dear Jesus, we come to thee with all our sins. We 
have been very wicked. We have told lies, and disobeyed 
our parents and done many wicked things. But, worst of 
all, we have not loved thee. We have often rejected thee. 
Our sins helped to crucify thee. And yet thou wast will- 
ing to die for us. Thou wast " wounded for our transgres- 
sions." Thou art able to save unto the uttermost. Thou 
hast said, G-od, that if we confess our sins, Thou art 
faithful, for Jesus' sake, to forgive us. G-od, we do con- 
fess our sins. We would repent of them. We would 
wish to forsake them. O God, help us to be sorry for our 
sins, and to believe in the Lord Jesus, who died on the 
cross for sinners like us. Dear Jesus, show us thy love, 
so that we cannot help loving thee. Thy blood cleanseth 



340 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

from all sin. Lord, we believe ; help thou our unbelief. 
Help each of us to say from the heart — 

"Just as I am, thou wilt receive, 
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, 
Because thy promise I believe, 

O Lamb of God, I come !" 

Yes, dear Lamb of God, we give ourselves away to thee ; 
'tis all that we can do. Strengthen our dear ministers and 
our Sabbath-school teachers. Reward them for their faith- 
fulness to us. May we all, at last, meet around the throne 
of God in heaven. For Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. 

The choir will now sing some of these hymns — "Jesus 
Paid it All," first — and those who cannot remain to our in- 
quiry meeting, can retire. I am sure these dear Christians 
will love to speak and pray with the children. And the 
little ones who feel they are in the fold will try and get 
others to come to Jesus, "the child's guide to heaven." 



'THOU HAST BLED AND DIED FOR ME.' 

Tune — PleyeVs Hymn. 

Jesus from his throne on high 
Came into this world to die, 
That I might from sin be free — 
Bled and died upon the tree. 

I can see him even now, 

With his pierced, thorn-clad brow, 

Agonizing on the tree. 

what love ! — and all for me. 

Now I feel this heart of mine 
Drawn to love God's holy Son, 
" Lifted up " on Calvary, 
Suffering shame and death for me. 

Jesus take this heart of mine ; 
Make it pure and wholly Thine. 
Thou hast bled and died for me ; 

1 will henceforth live for Thee. 



CHRIST DYING IN OUR STEAD. 341 



CHRIST DYING IN OUR STEAD. 

By Rev. W. F. CRAFTS. 
Christ died for our sins. — 1 Cor. 15. 3. 

In one of our newly-settled States a farmer had cleared 
a plot of ground not far from a river ; had built his house 
there ; had fenced round his garden very carefully, giving 
strict orders to his little ones that they were not to go out- 
side the garden. But one little one disobeyed his father, 
broke through the fence, and strayed through the waste 
outside on to the rock by the side of the river. His moth- 
er had missed him and gone out in search of him, and see- 
ing him in his terrible danger — fearing to frighten him by 
calling out his name, or to run after him, lest he, as chil- 
dren will, should in sport run still farther on, and in either 
case be lost — she threw herself on her knees, and waited 
till she should catch his eye, that, seeing his mother wait- 
ing with her arms open, he might run into them and be 
saved. She was saying by her looks and her attitude, 
" Come back !" and so he was saved. 

So as I think of Jesus on the cross with his hands out- 
stretched and nailed, he seems to be beseeching all who 
are not Christians to be reconciled to God ; to come back 
from their disobedience and sin, from the place of peril, 
into the garden of God's church and the home of His lov- 
ing heart. 

Jesus died on the cross partly to show God's great love 
for us. " In this was manifested the love of God toward 
us ; because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the 
world, that we might live through him." And Jesus died 
on the cross partly because there was disobedience and sin 
in the world, and there must be punishment for it. If no 



342 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

one was punished when the laws are broken, we would not 
be safe by night or day, and men would grow fearless in 
their wickedness. 

There was a king who made a law that whoever commit- 
ted a certain crime should have both eyes put out. His 
own son, whom he loved very much, violated the law, and 
the king felt very badly to think of having both of the 
bright eyes of his son put out forever. But he knew that 
if he did not punish his own son for breaking the law, peo- 
ple would mock at him and say, ' ' You let your own son, 
when he broke the law, go free, and are you going to pun- 
ish other people for doing the same ?" So his government 
would be hated, and his laws would be broken. The king 
decided at last to have one of his son's eyes put out ; and 
to save his son from utter blindness he allowed one of his 
own eyes to be put out, instead of the other one of his 
son's. So the law was kept, and everybody learned how 
terrible it was to break the law ; and the king made his 
son love him very much, and keep the laws afterwards, by 
taking his place in the putting out of one eye. 

So Jesus, in his great love for us, offered to die upon 
the cross, that we might not be punished for our sins. 

A teacher once said to a girl in his class : "Alice, what 
will God do when you die and are called upon to stand be- 
fore His judgment-seat, to answer for the sins done here 
upon earth ?" 

Her face glowed with emotion as she answered, "Christ 
died for sinners ; I will hide behind him. G-od will not 
look at me ; He will look at Christ." 

In the West, a Christian mother and authoress had ad- 
vised her son to unite with the church ; but he had a diffi- 
culty. He said, "I don't see, mother, the great merit in 
Christ's dying for us. If I could save a dozen men by dy- 
ing for them, I think I would ; much more if there were 
millions of them." "But, my son, would you die for a 



CHRIST DYING IN OUR STEAD. 343 

dozen grasshoppers ?" That set him thinking. After a 
few days he came to her with his doubts all cleared. " I 
don't know about the grasshoppers ; they are a pretty 
clever kind of bug. But if it was millions of mosquitoes, I 
think I should let them die." 

By the side of God, we are only like little annoying 
mosquitoes, full of naughty ways ; and yet Christ died for 
our sins, that we might be forgiven and saved and made 
glorious forever as sons of God. 

Under a picture of Jesus nailed to the cross, in Europe, 
there are these words : " All this I did for thee. What 
hast thou done for me '?" All we can do in return for the 
love of Jesus, who died in our stead, is to love, trust and 
obey him. 

A teacher described to her Sunday-school class of small 
girls the crown of thorns that was put on the brow of 
Christ in his mock trial. Shortly after, one of the class 
was discovered twining a wreath of rare flowers. Being 
asked what she was doing, she replied : " Long ago Jesus 
wore a crown of thorns and even died for me ; and now I 
am making him a wreath, to show how much I love him." 
The flowers we should put in the wreath for Christ's brpw 
are love, faith and obedience. He said : " If ye love me, 
keep my commandments." 

Will you not say "Yes" to-day to these four ques- 
tions ? — 

1 . Do you love Jesus ? 

2. Are you trusting in Jesus as your precious Saviour ? 

3. Will you try, by the help of Jesus, to give up every- 
thing that is sinful ? 

4. Will you trv to be more like Jesus every day ? 



344: SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



Bible Link— Mark 15. 27-37 ; Luke 23. 33-46 ; John 19. 18-30. 



FORGIVENESS THROUGH THE DEATH OF JESUS 

ON THE CROSS. 

By Rev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is 
covered. — Psa. 32. 1. 

We cannot cover up any sin or wrong that we do, any 
naughty word or deed, so that God cannot see it. When a 
boy at school wants to do any mischief, he waits until the 
teacher's back is turned ; but we cannot do anything be- 
hind God's back, for ' ' the eyes of the Lord are in every 
place, beholding the evil and the good." 

When a boy is reading a bad book or smoking a cigar, 
and sees his father coming, he puts it ought of sight. But 
there is no place out of God's sight, and He never needs to 
say about anything, " Show it to me ;" for He is "ac- 
quainted with all our ways." 

When Adam and Eve had sinned by disobeying God's 
command, they tried to hide from Him in the bushes, but 
He saw them all the while. Then they tried to hide by 
making excuses, and laying the wrong they had done on 
each other and the devil ; but they could not cover up their 
sin by bushes or excuses, and were punished by losing their 
garden-home. 

When Cain killed his brother he tried to cover up his 
sin, as people often do, by telling a lie. When God said 
to him, " Where is Abel, thy brother ?" he answered, " I 



FORGIVENESS. 345 

know not." But he could not hide his sin from God by a 
lie ; neither can we. 

There is no way that we can hide or cover our sins from 
the eye of God, who sees all things by night and by day. 
But Jesus has planned a way to cover up the sins that God 
has written beside our names on His book in heaven. 

Jesus came to the world and took our punishment on the 
cross, and then it was written over the record of our sins 
in God's book, " Jesus took the punishment instead of this 
boy or this girl," so that our sins are covered by the suffer- 
ings of Jesus ; and we may be forgiven, if we are sorry for 
our sins, and will stop doing wrong, and ask Jesus to give 
us a new heart to do right, and to obey all his commands 
in the Bible. 

David had prayed to be forgiven, and then when he 
knew his sins were covered by the blood of Jesus, he was 
so joyous that he took his harp and sang the psalm, 
"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin 
is covered." We can never be truly happy until our sins 
are covered by the forgiveness of God and the new heart 
that Jesus gives us. 

A little girl who had been very sad became very joyous. 
Her mother said, " Why are you so happy ?" 

" O, I was wicked, and God was angry with me ; but 
now He has forgiven me, and that's what makes me happy." 

" How happy every child of grace 
Who knows his sins forgiven !" 

"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose 
sin is covered.'''' 



346 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



Bible Link— What happened after Jesus' death on the cross, the 
same day— Matt. 27. 51-61 ; Mark 15. 38-47 ; Luke 23. 45, 47-56 ; 
John 19. 31-42. What happened the next day— Matt. 27. 62-66. 



PEARLS OF THE CROSS. 
By Rev. J. H. VINCENT, D.D., New York. 

Now I suppose that it will be a difficult thing for us to 
become perfectly quiet. Yet, if we try, it will be possi- 
ble. I hold in my hand one of these programmes or les- 
sons of song. How many of you have copies of these ? 
Hold them up ; now shake them a little ; now fold them 
this way ; now will you please to hide them ? I will tell 
you a story of a very sad heart — a boy who started away 
one Monday night from his home. It was the darkest day 
of his life — the last day at home. He said to his mother 
two days before it was time to leave home : " I have one 
request to make from you when I am starting : don't let 
any tears come into your eyes. I can stand it from all the 
rest, but I don't want to remember my mother's face wet 
with tears." She smiled and said to him, " My boy, it is 
the hardest thing in the world to give you up, but I will 
try, as far as I can, to look bright and cheerful when you 
go away.'' Now that boy's name was Tom. His father 
bought him a trunk and a good suit of clothes ; these were 
all placed in his bed-room. The trunk was of good sub- 
stantial materia], and when he went into the room on the 
Saturday morning, in order to pack his trunk, he said, ' ' I 
wish that trunk were back again in the shop where it was 
made." When he looked at the new clothes, he said, " I 
wish that the cloth were back again in the shop where that 
suit of clothes was made."' On the Sunday morning he 



PEARLS OF THE CROSS. 347 

went to church with his father and mother, and afterwards 
with the other boys and his sister to the Sabbath-school. 

The last Sunday evening at home, at family prayer, 
Tom's heart almost broke. As they kneeled down to pray 
at the old family altar, Tom's father prayed for his dear 
boy, that the Everlasting arms might be underneath him, 
that the Spirit of the living God might dwell in his heart, 
and that he might be kept from the evils of this world. 
While Tom's father was praying, Tom overheard sobs 
from his mother, and when he rose from his knees there 
was silence in the room, and though it was dark he could 
tell by the silence — broken only by the sobs of his mother 
and others — that he had better friends at home than he sup- 
posed. And w T hen he w^ent out in the star-light he heard 
the music of the river, and looked up to the sky and saw 
the stars palpitating there, he said to himself, " If I could 
change the arrangements I would not go at all." He went 
np to his room. There were all his new things, and now 
he had almost spent the last night at home, and the last 
few hours with his friends, before going on his long jour- 
ney. 

This is not the story of my experience ; but as Tom went 
to bed that night, with his heart almost broken, he fell 
into a light slumber, and dreamed that some one came 
into his room. He looked and saw what he thought to be 
an angel, with a face very sweet and fair. The angel 
spoke to him, and said : " Tom, to-morrow r you leave the 
home of your childhood, and it may be five years before 
you come back again. You leave a good, strong, faithful 
father, and one of the best of mothers. You leave three 
good, strong, hearty brothers, with whom you have quar- 
relled more than once in your life, whose hearts are sorry 
enough because you must leave them ; and your sister, who 
has loved you through all your childhood, and loves you 
more to-nio-ht than ever." 



348 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

The angel said, " Tom, I have a present to give you — a 
sort of talisman — and I will show it to you." The angel 
took a beautiful box — and, as the lid was lifted, a light 
shone out, as if it contained a brilliant star — and by a bright 
gold chain lifted out of the box a little cross, made of 
pearls. The angel said, " In this cross I have the secret of 
a true life — a strong, happy life for you" — and she then 
said, ' ' Now, Tom, I want you to look at this cross, and 
see the pearls in it. It has a light of its own ; and although 
it is dark in this room, yet, as you look at each pearl of 
the cross, you will see something to remember." 

I will tell you what Tom saw in each pearl of the cross. 
One in the centre, another at the bottom, another at the 
top, and one in each arm ; and, beginning at the bottom 
of the cross, I want you to study each pearl. 

As Tom looked at it, he thought he read the word begin- 
ning with the letter T. ft Surely, that is it," he said, as he 
spelled the word that was writen in the very heart of the 
pearl ; and I don't want you to forget Truth. And the 
angel said, "Now, Tom, I want you to tell the truth, as 
it is in God's word — for such is the real foundation of a 
true character. Read your Bible, fill your heart with truth, 
for truth has power." 

The name of the first pearl was Truth. Tom looked at 
the second pearl, which was Sincerity. This is a long 
word ; but long words are as easy as short ones, when we 
understand them. Well, sincerity is truth in the heart, 
shining out of the eyes, speaking out of the lips, so the 
whole life is truth — true as truth itself. What was the 
name of the first pearl ? (Answer, Truth.) And the next ? 
(Sincerity.) Now, the name of the third pearl that Tom 
saw [boys and girls will not think it is too hard a word ; 
and remember, I never did believe in talking to children 
in words of one syllable ; so I use a longer word this 
time] was Integrity. Sincerity is truth in the life speak- 



PEARLS OF THE CROSS. 349 

ing out, and expressing itself. Integrity is truth in the 
will, that makes a man strong for righteousness anywhere 
and everywhere. 

I remember, when I was much younger than I am now, 
I was pastor of a church in New Jersey. I remember 
David — a boy about as broad as he was long. I had a talk 
about David's will-power. One day as I sat in my room 
I heard a voice whining out, * ' Mother, mother !" I looked 
out of the window and saw David standing on the outside 
of the gate with a milk pitcher in his hands, and calling 
for his mother. I was ashamed of him — and I am al- 
ways ashamed of any boy asking anybody to do for him 
anything that he can do for himself. I opened the win- 
dow and said, •• Is that the way you try, try, try, again ?" 
His little face grew flushed as red as a beet, his red shirt 
was buttoned tight, and as he took the milk pitcher and 
placed it by some stones, that he might pull the gate, I 
was afraid that he would spring his wrists. He took hold 
of the gate and pulled with all his might. He tried to open 
the gate by pressing against it. At last he opened his little 
Dutch eyes and saw that the latch was on. He lifted the 
latch, picked up the milk pitcher, and looking up in my 
face, seemed, to say, "Did you see how I opened that 
gate V At that moment I felt inclined to sing ' ' Hail to 
the chief who in triumph advances !" Now what is the 
difference, I said to myself, between David standing at the 
gate whining* for his mother, and David opening the gate 
himself ? I said the difference is this — I woke up the will 
when I spoke to him. 

My boys, in this world the man who knows how to say 
" I wiH," will succeed. It is not a large knowledge 
in the brain ; it is not genius, but it is will-power that 
conquers in this world. When once a man holds God's 
truth in his heart, and his will is controlled by it, he will 
be a man of integrity. The three words that Tom saw 



350 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

were : the first, Truth ; second, Sincerity ; third, Integ- 
rity. 

Now the fourth was Reverence. I am not going to 
talk to you much about that, but I love little people who 
have reverence for God's house, for God's word, and for 
God's name. Reverence for their parents — father and 
mother. Reverence for old people. In America there is a 
lack of this reverential feeling in young people. In Eng- 
land the thing is not so bad in this respect. 

By the way, how many words have I given you ? (Ans- 
wer, four — Truth, Sincerity, Integrity, Reverence.) The 
fifth is Humility. When people have the truth in the 
heart, in the will and tongue, when the love and fear of 
God is there, they will be humble, like the lilies of the 
valley. 

The last word which I have to give you, you must never 
forget. There is a word in the New Testament which I wish 
you never to forget. The word Charity. On the very 
top of the cross, Tom read that word in the heart of the 
pearl — Charity. I will tell you what charity is. It is love 
toward God and man. 

When I first crossed the Atlantic, the weather was foggy. 
I did not sleep the first night I was at sea. I got up four 
different times to see what was the matter. I heard the 
men moving about the deck, and thought that there was 
something wrong. I heard the fog-whistle, and heard the 
water pouring in on the deck ; and all through that trip I 
was troubled. 

I said, when I make the next trip, I intend to let the 
captain run the ship himself. I find it is a very great ad- 
vantage to the travelling public not to feel responsibility 
themselves. I thought if I would only trust the Captain of 
my salvation a little more to bring my soul into everlasting 
habitations, and I resolved to trust Christ more than I had 
done. 



PEARLS OF THE CROSS. 351 

The third trip that I made, I was lying flat on my back 
in my saloon, because the weather was rough and the 
clouds dark, and I felt more comfortable lying down in 
that position. Just then a little Amerioan girl passed me, 
and I said to her, "I think it is a very rough day." She 
said it was, and that our captain from the deck thought 
he saw a dismasted vessel in the distance, and had given 
orders for the ship to be turned toward it. He said it 
was a ship wrecked, and seven men clinging to the rigging, 
and he must save them. He said, ' ' Who will go and fetch 
them ?" She said, have you seen our first mate ? He is 
a noble fellow. He said, " I will go, if you give me six 
men and the life-boat," and they started for the wreck. 
Our hearts trembled for him and his crew. Sometimes his 
little boat would be seen on the crest of a wave, then it 
would go down in the trough of the sea, then we lost sight 
of him. At last we saw the boat making for the wreck ; 
and in less than two hours from that time he came back 
with his six sailors, and seven men saved from the wreck. 
She said, " He is a noble fellow." I said to myself, it is a 
very good thing for a man to be on a ship and trust, and a 
better thing when he is on the ship to help some one else. 

Let us try to bring others to Christ. This is charity, 
the sweetest and best of all. Will you now repeat to me 
the list in order : Truth, Sincerity, Integrity, Reverence, 
Humility, Charity. Now reverse them — Charity, Humility, 
Reverence, Integrity, Sincerity, Truth. Now will you 
name each word, and let me give you the first letter of 
each as you name them — C. H. R. I. S. T. Now I tell you, 
my little friends, these are the last words I have to speak 
to you on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. In that you 
will find Him who holds in His keeping all the pearls that 
give to you life eternal — Truth, Sincerity, Integrity, Rev- 
erence, Humility, and Charity — and may you hold them all 
in your hearts forever. 



352 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



Bible Link— What happened on the day of the resurrection of Jesus, 
before the first visit of the women to the sepulchre — Matt. 38. 
2-4 ; 27. 52, 53 ; Make 16. 1. The first visit of the women to the 
sepulchre— Matt. 28. 1, 5-8 ; Mark 16. 2-8 ; Luke 24. 1-11 ; John 
20. 1, 2. Peter and John visit the sepulchre— Luke 24. 12 ; John 
20. 3-10. Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalene— Mark 16. 9-11 ; 
John 20. 11-18. Second appearance of Jesus — Matt. 28. 9, 10. 
The trick of the Jewish rulers and Roman soldiers — Matt. 28. 
11-15. Jesus having been seen of Peter, appears to two disciples 
who are walking to Emmaus — Mark 16. 12, 13 ; Luke 24. 13-36 ; 
1 Corinthians 15. 5 (in part). Jesus appears to the apostles in 
the absence of Thomas— Mark 16. 14-18 ; Luke 24. 36-49 ; John 
20. 19-23. Jesus appears to the apostles, Thomas being present — 
John 20. 24-29. The apostles go into Galilee, when Jesus appears 
to them— Ma.tt. 28. 16 ; John 21. 1-24. Other appearances of 
Jesus— 1 Corinthians 15. 6, 7 ; Acts 1. 3-8. Jesus ascends to 
heaven— Mark 16. 19, 20 ; Luke 24. 50-53 ; Acts 1. 9-12. 



THE FORTY DAYS 

that our lord lived UPON this earth after he rose 

FROM THE GRAVE. 

By Rev. JAMES VAUGHAN, London. 

We arc going to think about ''the Forty Days." They 
are such important days, that they are generally called 
"the Forty Days." Perhaps they are the most important 
' ' forty days " that ever were spent. ' ' Forty days " — be- 
tween the time when Jesus Christ rose from the grave and 
the day when Jesus Christ went up into heaven. For w T hen 
Jesus Christ began, he began with " forty days" in the 
wilderness; and when he ended, he ended with " forty 
days" with his church, before he went up to heaven. 

But how do we know there were ' ' forty days ?" Can 
you tell me ? Look at the third verse of the first chapter 
of the Acts of the Apostles ; will you read it ? " He 
shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible 



THE FORTY DAYS. 353 

proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the 
things pertaining to the kingdom of God." 

" Forty days." Now look. From the feast of the Pass- 
over to the feast of the Pentecost was — how many days ? 
"Fifty." The word "Pentecost" means fifty. And it 
was called " Pentecost," because it was fifty days after the 
Passover. Now next Thursday is Holy Thursday — the 
day that Jesus Christ went up into heaven ; and Sunday 
week will be Pentecost — Whit Sunday — when the Holy 
Ghost came. 

Now, how many days is it from Thursday to Sunday 
week? "Ten." Take away ten from fifty, and how 
many remain ? "Forty." Then there are " forty days " 
that Jesus Christ was upon the earth after he rose from 
the grave, before he went up to heaven, which was next 
Thursday. 

Now we are going to talk about these "forty days." 
"Forty days" between what? Between the time that 
Jesus Christ rose from the grave to the time that Jesus 
Christ went up to heaven. I wonder why. Why did not 
Jesus go up straight from the grave to heaven ? He had 
said upon the cross, "It is finished !" Why did he come 
back to this poor world ? Can you think ? May we ask 
why ? May we ask why God does anything ? Yes, we 
may ; but we must remember that we cannot tell half the 
reasons, when we ask why God does anything. We may 
find out one or two reasons, but there are a great many 
reasons that we do not know ; and very likely the reasons 
we do not know are very much better than the reasons we 
do know. 

Now will you try to think with me ? I am going to think 
of six reasons why Jesus Christ came back to this world 
again before he went up to heaven. You must think too. 

The first reason I think of is, to show that he loved us. 
To show that he loved this bad world still, and that he was 



354 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

not in such a hurry to leave it. He loved us, and so he 
came back to us. That is the first reason. 

The next reason I think of is, because he wanted to prove 
and show for certain that he had risen from the grave ; 
for, supposing Jesus Christ did not rise from the grave, 
then what Jesus Christ said did not come true, because he 
said he would rise ; and if Jesus Christ did not rise from 
the grave, then we shall not rise from the grave : but when 
we are put into the grave, there we shall stay forever. 
That would be a sad thing ! Therefore, it was very im- 
portant that Jesus Christ should prove that he rose from 
the grave. So he came back to this world to prove that 
he rose from the grave. He did not show himself to every- 
body. He showed himself to witnesses appointed for that 
purpose — that they might witness who had seen him ; that 
they might be able to go and tell everybody they had seen 
him, and that he was risen. That is my second reason. 

The third reason is because he wished to show not only 
that he was risen, but that he was the very same Jesus that 
was on the cross and was put into the grave. He showed 
that he had got a body. How did he show that he had got 
a body ? Twice he ate, just as we do, because we have 
bodies. If we had not bodies, we should not eat and 
drink. Do you remember when ? Once, in the room 
when the ten disciples were together, he took some broiled 
fish and a honey-comb, and he ate with the ten in the room. 
And once by the side of the lake. He showed he had got 
a body. It was not quite the same body that he had be- 
fore. I mean it was a spiritual body. I cannot explain 
that. It is too deep. It was a spiritual body. We shall 
see a little more about that presently. 

Not only did he show them that he had got a body, but 
that it was the same body — because when He chose, he 
could make people see that it was the same body. They 
saw it was Jesus ; they knew him. Besides that, he showed 



THE FORTY DAYS. 355 

the wounds. How many wounds had he ? " Five." Two 
in his feet ; two in his hands ; one in his side. He showed 
his wounds to Thomas. So that it was certainly the same 
body. 

And was it the same heart ? Did he love them just as 
much ? Did he do just the same sort of things ? Did he 
come and talk to the unhappy, and comfort them ? Did 
he teach them, and say he was still their brother ? Yes ; 
he had the same body and the same heart. That is the 
third reason. 

Now we will look at the fourth reason. Because he 
wanted to talk to them about the things that concern the 
kingdom of God. What does that mean ? Do you know 
what the ' ' kingdom of God " means in the Bible ? Some- 
times it means heaven ; sometimes it does not mean heaven. 
Sometimes it means your heart. If Jesus is the king of 
your heart — if his throne is your heart — then your heart 
is "the kingdom of God." And sometimes "the king- 
dom of God " means the church — all about the church, 
the church on earth — that is "the kingdom of God." It 
is one province of the great "kingdom of God." Now he 
wanted to talk to them about that, about the Church. He 
told them about people being baptized, and about the min- 
isters' preaching ; and that they were to go into all the 
world, and tell people to become Christians — how they 
were to keep the commandments ; about the Holy Ghost, 
and about the Bible. That was the fourth reason. He 
came to tell them about the things that concern ' ' the king- 
dom of God," i. e., the church. 

Now what was the fifth reason ? To show us how he would 
be with us always. Is Jesus with us always ? ' ' Yes. " Do 
we always know he is with us \ " No." In some places 
he is with us, and we do not know it. So it was when 
Jesus appeared on those "forty days." Sometimes he 
was with people, and they did not know it was Jesus. So 



356 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

he is sometimes close to you, and you do not know it, till 
your heart tells you — till the Holy Spirit tells you — till 
Jesus tells you. It was so then ; it is so now. Jesus is 
always with you, though you do not know it. Therefore 
it was to show, I think, how he will be with us always in 
the same way. 

And one more reason — this is very difficult. I am not 
sure about it myself. When you and I rise out of the 
grave, do you think we shall go straight up into heaven ? 
I do not. I think that when Jesus comes again, then we 
shall rise out of our graves ; and then we shall be, I think, 
a little while with Jesus upon this earth ; and then we shall 
go to heaven, just as Jesus did. He rose from the grave, 
and stayed upon the earth awhile. Then he went up to 
heaven. I think it is to tell us we are to do the same, if 
we are God's children. When Jesus comes, we shall rise 
out of our graves ; we shall be with Jesus on this earth 
some time. I do not know how long — perhaps a thousand 
years — and then go to heaven. 

Those are my six reasons. Can you remember them ? 
Let us see. Try to think of them. Because he loved us — 
to prove that he has risen — to show that he was the same 
Jesus still — to talk about the things of the kingdom of 
God — to show us the way in which he is always with us — 
and to lead us to think that we shall, like him, walk this 
earth when we rise from the grave. 

Now, my dear children, we shall think about Jesus 
showing himself in "the Forty Days." Does everybody 
know it ? Can you go on with me about Jesus showing 
himself when he rose from the grave ? I shall name the 
occasions at first very quickly, and then come back to 
them. 

The first time Jesus appeared was to Mary Magdalene. 
The next I am not quite sure about. What do you say ? 
To " some women" — " three women," I think — but that I 



THE .FORTY DAYS. 357 

am not sure of ; it is not quite certain. The next to Pe- 
ter, I think ; but I am not quite sure. In the twenty- 
fourth of Luke it is said, "The Lord is risen indeed, and 
hath appeared to Simon " — therefore I think so. It is 
simply said he showed himself to Peter. Then he showed 
himself to two men. Where were they going? "To 
Emmaus. " Then he showed himself to the ten disciples in 
the room. 

These were the appearances the first Sunday — Easter 
Sunday. 

"When Jesus rose, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene ; 
then to three women ; then to Peter (I think) ; then to 
the two going to Emmaus ; then to the ten disciples — 
without Thomas — in the room. All that was in Jeru- 
salem. 

Did he appear again all that next week ? Not till the 
next Sunday. Then, to how many? "Eleven." Who 
was then there with them? "Thomas." Then, back 
from Jerusalem, where did he go ? "To Galilee," as he 
told them. And where did he appear again? "On the 
mountain " that he appointed them. I am not quite sure, 
but I think that then he showed himself to "the five hun- 
dred " all at once. And then he went to the lake, and 
there, you will remember, he wrought a miracle. He 
made Peter catch a wonderful draught of fishes, as he had 
done once before. Then they came to the shore, and he 
appeared to the disciples, and took a meal with them, and 
talked with Peter, and talked about John. That was in 
Galilee. Then he came back to Jerusalem, and he saw 
them, I think, at Jerusalem, and talked with them some of 
those beautiful words that we have ; and then he took 
them out to — where? "Bethany" — to the Mount of 
Olives ; and there, after talking with them a little, and 
blessing them, he was taken up to heaven. 

Those are the appearances of Jesus in " the Forty Days." 



358 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Can you remember them ? Shall we go through them 
again ? I will speak only of those we are certain of. 
Mary Magdalene — the two going to Emmaus — the ten in 
the room without Thomas — then the next Sunday the 
eleven with Thomas — then in Galilee on the lake, at the 
miracle of the fishes, to Peter and the others, on the bank, 
and the conversation — and then at Bethany, when he went 
up to heaven. We are certain also, but we do not know 
when, he showed himself to " five hundred brethren" — to 
Peter, to James — but we are not quite sure where. 

Now I am going to speak (if you like) a little about each 
of these. Who should you have expected would have 
been the first person Jesus Christ would have shown him- 
self to when he rose from the dead ? I think you would 
have said, Peter or John, wouldn't you ? But he did not. 
He showed himself first to a poor woman who had been a 
great sinner, and who, I think, perhaps at that moment, 
was the most unhappy (about her sins) of anybody in the 
world — and because she was so — though she knew she was 
forgiven. But then we are all very sorry for our sins af- 
ter we are forgiven — I think more so than before. And 
therefore Jesus showed himself to Mary Magdalene. She 
lived at Magdala, therefore she was called "the Magda- 
lene." And Jesus spoke to her in such a kind way. I 
don't know how he said it, but he said it in such a sweet 
way, "Mary ! Mary !" So sweet ! She did not know 
him at first, but thought it was the gardener ; but when 
she knew it was Jesus, she said, " Rabboni !" — "My 
Master !" " My Teacher !" it means. So his first visit was 
to a poor penitent. 

The next we are sure about was to two people taking a 
Sunday walk. I wish we could take such a Sunday walk — ■ 
talking about Jesus, and then Jesus coming and going with 
us ! Do you think he will ? If we are taking a Sunday 
walk, and are thinking and talking about Jesus, will he 



THE FORTY DAYS. 359 

come and go with us? ''Yes." Shall we see him? 
" No." Shall we feel him ? " Yes." Try to find Jesus 
with you even in a Sunday walk. Not a foolish walk. 
Not a walk on the esplanade, to look upon people's dresses 
and talk about nonsense. I do not think Jesus will join 
us then. The disciples said, "Our hearts burned within 
us." Such a glow ! such a happy feeling ! And then they 
found him out — how ? In the beautiful way in which he 
broke the bread. Then they knew it was Jesus. 

Well then the next time was when the ten were in the 
room together. What did he say to them ? "Peace be 
unto you !" Had he ever said that before ? Never. He 
had said, " Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give unto 
you." He had said, "This is my legacy to you." And 
after he had died, he came back with his own legacy. 
Then he said it like a priest—" Peace be unto you !" He 
then talked with them and ate before them. 

And then the next time was when poor Thomas was 
there, who doubted. If I was to doubt your word, I think 
you would not like it. You would say, ' ' Oh ! if you 
doubt me, I won't talk with you. If you don't trust me, 
I won't have anything to do with you." Did Jesus do 
that ? Here was this man who doubted what Jesus had 
said — declared he would not believe it — yet Jesus was so 
kind, even to a doubter ! And he satisfied him, didn't he ? 
He asked him to put his finger into the wounds, and thrust 
his hand into the side, saying, "Don't be disbelieving; 
don't be faithless, but believing." What did Thomas say ? 
" My Lord, and my God." And then Christ said, "Ah ! 
you believe because you have seen ; but blessed are those 
that have not seen, and yet have believed." Which do 
you think best — to have lived with Christ on the earth, and 
believed because you had seen him ; or live now, and be- 
lieve without seeing him ? We are better off than they 
were who lived at that time, if we believe. I think so. 



360 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Well then, after this, Jesus went down into Galilee. 
Why do you think he went down into Galilee ? Was not 
it the place where he had been a little child — where his 
mother had lived — where he had been as a boy — where he 
had walked about on the mountains, and by the lake ? Do 
you think, when you grow up to be a man or woman, you 
would like to come back to Christ Church ? Should you 
say, " That is the church where I went to hear catechis- 
ing when I was a little boy ? To Christ Church my 
mother took me. It is a house I loved." Would you 
like to do that, thirty years hence ? That was Jesus 
Christ's feeling. He loved to go back to the old places. 

If you have a happy chilhood — that means a good child- 
hood, for a good childhood will be a happy childhood — 
then you will love Brighton, and all the old places where 
you used to be when a boy — your school, your house, your 
church. And perhaps, when Christ comes back to this 
world, he will like to go to the old places again ; to the 
very same spots — Jerusalem, and Galilee — from the same 
feeling that prompted him then, during " the Forty Days." 

Now I want you to tell me, Was the miracle Jesus did 
that day upon the lake exactly the same as the one he did 
before on that lake ? Can you tell me any difference ? I 
will tell you some of the differences. One difference was, 
that before, Jesus did not say which side the net was to be 
cast: now, he said, "the right side." Another differ- 
ence was, they did not bring the fish into the boat, as it 
were, but "drew the net to land." Another was, "the 
net did not break." There are great reasons for those dif- 
ferences. I shall not talk about them now ; they are too 
deep. The first time, it means how the people were to be 
brought to Christ, to become Christians ; the next time, 
the way Christians are to be taken to heaven. How many 
fishes were there? "A hundred and fifty and three." 
Were they big ? "Yes." Were they big before? Big 



THE FORTY DAYS. 361 

and little before ; this time, all big*. Was the number 
told before? "No." What was the reason for that? 
Perhaps you can find that out, why the exact number is 
related. 

So that was a miracle. And when they came to the 
shore, then Jesus had a conversation with St. Peter. Do 
you remember it ? Shall I tell you what he said to him \ 
Perhaps you do not exactly know. Shall I tell you ex- 
actly ? I will do so. 

Jesus said to Simon Peter : ' ' Simon, son of Jonas, lov- 
est thou me V Peter said, " Yea, Lord ; I am thy friend." 
" I am thy friend," he said. Then Jesus said again, 
" Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ?" Peter said, " I 
am thy friend. " Then Jesus said again, not ' • Lovest thou 
me?" but he said, "Are you my friend?" And Peter 
said, "Thou knowest all things ; thou knowest I am thy 
friend." Jesus said, "Do you love me?" Peter said, 
" I am thy friend." He said it three times. When Jesus 
comes again, that will be the question. 

Now let me ask you — because it is such a beautiful 
question, it is such an important question, I want to ask 
everybody in this church this afternoon — I want to ask you 
this : Do you really, really love Jesus Christ ? Do you 
really love him ? Does your heart say "Yes ?" You can 
tell, if I ask you, if jqvl love me ? You could tell, if I 
asked you, do you love your mother ? You would say, 
" Yes, I am sure I love my father and my mother." Then 
why not say whether you love Jesus ? Do you I All de- 
pends upon that. This is religion. Nothing will do with- 
out it. All right, if you love Jesus. Let me repeat the 
question — let it be Jesus saying to you now — "Lovest 
thou me ?" 

Well, then they came up to Jerusalem, and then Jesus 
talked to them, and told them about going into all the 
world, preaching the gospel, and baptizing, and all they 



362 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

were to do. And then lie took them out to Bethany— lit- 
tle more than half a mile — and then, on the Mount of 
Olives, just by Bethany, he blessed them. The last thing 
he did was to bless them, and tell them he would always 
be with them ; and, as he was speaking, he rose up, and a 
cloud came across, and they could not see him again ; and 
he went to heaven. 

In ' ' the Forty Days" did Jesus ever think of little chil- 
dren ? Did he ? " Yes." Xow tell me where ? I think 
he did twice at least, perhaps very often. When he talked 
about baptism — I certainly think he meant little children 
then. And not only then, but what did he say to Peter \ 
" Feed my lambs." Which did he put first — the lambs or 
the sheep ? " Feed my lambs." Is Jesus feeding lambs 
now ? He sends me to do so. I am to try to feed the 
lambs. Jesus talked of the children. 

Will Jesus come again ? He certainly will come again. 
Did the two angels say so .- Two angels, looking like men, 
were there on the mount, when the disciples were looking 
up. They said, " Don't waste your time gazing up into 
heaven, in vision, or in idle thoughts about it ; he will come 
again." But how ? " The same way you have seen him 
go." In his body? "Yes." Blessing? "Yes." The 
last thing and the first thing to bless ? "Yes." What 
will he say : " Come, ye blessed of.my Father." The last 
word on his lips, blessing ; the first word on his lips when 
he comes again, blessing. Such a dear, loving Jesus is he ! 
ii . Come, ye blessed of my Father !" 

And who will walk with him then ? Shall I tell you ? 
Those who have " kept their garments white." Have we, 
any of us, kept our garments white ? Have you \ No. 
But it means those who, having soiled their garments*, have 
had them washed. If your garment is soiled, it can be 
washed. Washed ? In what ? In the blood of Jesus 
Christ. Those who ' ' keep their garments white" — those 



CHRIST INTERCEDING FOR US. 363 

wlio have tlieir soiled garments washed in the fountain of 
the blood of Jesus Christ — they shall ' ' follow the Lamb 
whithersoever he goetli." 



THE ASCENDED CHRIST INTERCEDING FOR US.* 

By Rev. JOHX TODD, D.D., Pittsfield, Mass. 
He ever livetli to make intercession. — Hebrews 7. 25. 

Almost every prayer which we hear is made in the name 
of Jesus Christ ; and everything we ask God for, is asked 
" for Christ's sake." A poor sick soldier might go to the 
door of the king's palace, and ask to go hi, and ask for 
help for himself and his family, and he could not get any. 
But if he had in his pocket a paper in the king's own hand- 
writing, saying that he might come and ask help ; and if 
the people at the palace knew that the paper was written 
by the king, they would hear his request and aid him, for 
the king's sake. This would be asking in another's name, 
just as we seek God in Christ's name ; and it would be 
answering for another's sake, just as God answers us " for 
Christ's sake." 

Nobody can feel happy without a friend. And almost 
every one tries to get and keep a few friends, however 
wicked he may be. Let any one have no friend to feel for 
him, to share his joys and sorrows, and he will feel un- 
happy. You have seen how children will love a little dog, 
or a iamb, or a dove, or anything that can love tbem. 
The little boy will talk to his top, and the little girl will 
talk to her doll, because they want a friend ; and if the 

* From " Lectures to Children," by Rev. John Todd, D.D., (de- 
ceased). Published by Bridgeman & Childs, Northampton, Mass. 



364 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

top and the doll could talk, and love them, they would be 
still more glad. Why I Because we all want friends to 
whom we can talk, and who will feel for us. Let me show 
you just w T hat I mean. 

Some years ago there was an Indian in North America, 
who, for his very good conduct, had a large farm given 
him by the State. He built his little house on his land, 
and there lived. Around him were a number of white 
families. They did not treat him badly, but because he 
was an Indian, they did not act and feel as if they loved 
him, and as if they were his friends. His only child was 
taken sick and died, and not one of the white people went 
near him to comfort him, or to aid him to bury his little 
child. A few days after, he came to the Avhite people, and 
said to them, 

" When white man's child die, Indian man be sorry — 
he help bury him. When my child die, no one speak to 
me — I make his grave alone — I can't no live here, and have 
no friend to love me !" 

The poor Indian gave up his farm, dug up the body of 
his child, and carried it with him two hundred miles 
through the forest, to join the Canadian Indians ! What 
love for his child ! What a deep feeling in his heart that 
he wanted a friend ! 

So we all want some one to whom we may look every 
day. But when we are sick, when in distress, when we 
are about to die, oh ! then w r e want a friend who will stand 
near us, and who can help us. Xow T , Jesus Christ is just 
that friend. He was once a man of sorrows, and was ac- 
quainted with grief, and knows how to help those who are 
in sorrow. He was once in the agonies of death, and 
knows all how r the dying feel. Is any one poor ? So was 
he, and knows all about being poor. Are you a poor weak 
child ? So w T as he, and knows just how the child feels, 
and just what a friend he needs. You have little trials 



CHRIST INTERCEDING FOR US. 365 

and troubles, which older people would not think of, but 
which sometimes make your heart feel heavy and sad. 
Well, Jesus Christ knows all about such feelings, and can 
help you, and will do it every day, if you ask him every 
day to do so. 

But though we want a friend all our lives, there is one 
hour when we very much need such a friend. That is the 
hour of dying. Let me show you why. 

There was once a man who had three friends ; he had 
lived near them for many years. It so happened that this 
man was accused to the king of the country as a bad man, 
and the king ordered that he should be put to death. 
The poor man heard of it, and was in great trouble. He 
expected to lose his life, and to leave his family of children 
in great distress. After thinking it over, and weeping 
over it, he determined to go to the king and fall down be- 
fore him, and get somebody to go with him and beg his 
life. So he called on these three friends, and begged them 
to go with him. The first whom he asked, he loved best, 
and thought him his best friend. But no ; he would not 
go with him one step toward the king's court. He would 
not move to help him. He next went to the second friend, 
and whom he loved next best, and asked him to go. So 
they set out to go ; but when they came to the gates of 
the king's court, this friend stopped, and would not go in 
with him and ask for his life. Then he went to the third 
friend, and the one whom he loved the least, and asked 
him to help him. This friend was known to the king, and 
beloved by him. So he took him by the hand, and led 
him in to the king, and interceded, or begged for him, and 
the king pardoned the condemned man, for the sake of his 
friend who interceded for him. 

Now see how this story applies here. Some people have 
three things which thev think of, and which they highly 



366 SERiMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

value. These three things are : 1. The world ; that is, 
property and houses, and all the fine things which they 
have. 2. Their friends. 3. Jesus Christ. The first of 
these, the world, is loved the most. Their friends are 
loved next best ; and alas ! Christ least of all. So when 
they are taken sick, and must die, they have no true 
comfort, nor any good hope of heaven. The world and 
the things of the world, however much they may be loved, 
are useless the moment we are laid on the bed of death. 
Our friends can go with us through the sickness, and as far 
as to the king's gates, the gates of death ; but they there 
stop and leave us. But Jesus Christ, that friend of whom 
we think so little, and whom we love so little, he can go in 
with us before the great King of kings, and plead for us — 
intercede for us, and thus save our souls from being con- 
demned to eternal death. This, oh this is the time when 
we need him for our friend, and need him for our inter- 
cessor ! He died for us, and can therefore be our friend, 
and plead for us and save us. 

I trust you have not forgotten the last lecture, in which 
I tried to show you that God can save our souls, because 
Christ suffered for us. I am now showing you that Christ 
does something more — he intercedes for us. A king once 
made a law against a certain crime ; and the law was, that 
every one who did that wicked thing, should have both his 
eyes put out. Very soon a man was found who had broken 
the law. He was tried, and found guilty. It was the 
kings own son. Now, the king saw that if he did not 
punish his son, nobody ought to be punished, and nobody 
would keep the law. So he had one eye of his son's put 
out, and one of his own eyes put out ! He could now go 
before the court, and plead for his son, and by his own 
sufferings and intercession, could save his son from further 
punishment. All the people saw that the good king hated 
the crime, and loved his laws. Thus does Jesus Christ 



CHRIST INTERCEDING FOR US. 367 

save us by his own sufferings. He has suffered for us, and 
now lives to intercede for us. 

How very different are Christ's prayers for us, from any- 
thing which we can do for one another S He can always 
aid us. We cannot always do it. Let me try to show you 
the difference. 

Many years ago there were some men in the state of 
Pennsylvania who would not obey the laws of their coun- 
try, but tried to destroy the laws, and have their own wills. 
When men go so far as to unite, and say they will not obey 
the laws, this crime is called " high treason." Among 
these men who did so, was one by the name of John Fries. 
He was carefully tried by the court, and found guilty, and 
sentenced to be hung. The death-warrant was signed by 
the president of the United States, and the day was fixed 
on which he should die. But just before the day came, 
some people went to the president, and ashed him to per- 
mit a woman to see him who had something to say to him. 
The president said he would see her. A few kind friends 
went with her to the house of the president. The presi- 
dent stood up to receive her. But what was his surprise 
to see this woman with ten children, all kneeling before 
him in tears ! They were the wife and the ten children of 
John Fries, kneeling and weeping, and interceding for the 
life of their father, who was condemned to die ! The 
president stood in amazement, and then the big tears came 
gushing down his cheeks, and his voice was so choked that 
he could not speak. With his eyes streaming with tears, 
and his hands raised towards heaven, he pushed away out 
of the room. Oh, what a moment of anxiety ! Would 
he hear the petition, or would he let the man die ? In a 
few moments he returned with a paper in his hand. It 
contained a full and free pardon for her husband, and their 
father. He gave it to the woman, and she went away, and 
returned joyful to her home having her husband with her. 



368 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

This was interceding before a human being ; Christ in- 
tercedes before God. This was interceding for one man ; 
Christ does it for all his people. This was for one short 
life ; Christ asks for us eternal life. This was for one sin ; 
Christ intercedes for all our sins. This was for a friend ; 
Christ does it for those who have ever been enemies. This 
saved from the curse pronounced by human laws ; Christ 
saves us from the curse of God's law. This was a little 
stream ; but Christ carries us over the dark river of death. 

Suppose one of the children were condemned to die, and 
shut up in prison ; and we were going to send a petition 
for his life ; whom would he wish to carry it ? The most 
worthy man in the whole town, certainly. Christ is the 
most worthy being in the universe, and therefore he is a 
good Intercessor. If you were to petition for your life, 
whom would you wish to carry your petition — a stranger, 
or some warm, intimate friend of the king ? The friend, 
surely. You would say, the king will be more likely to 
hear his friend than a stranger. Yes. And God is ever 
well-pleased with his dear Son, and is willing to hear him 
when he intercedes for us. And it is declared, that Christ 
is " able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God 
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." 

History informs us of a man who was doomed to die for 
some crime which he had committed. His brother had lost 
an arm in defending his country. He came forward, and 
held up the stump of his lost arm, and interceded for his 
brother. The judges were so affected by the remembrance 
of his past services, that they freely pardoned the guilty 
brother for his sake. Thus is Christ described to us as 
sitting on the throne, like a " lamb as it had been slain," 
and interceding for us. 

There are four things about Jesus Christ which make him 
just such an Intercessor as we need. I will tell you what 
they are. 



CHRIST INTERCEDING FOR US. 369 

1. He is worthy. 

You know, dear children, that it is a great comfort to 
have good men pray for us, because we are told that if any 
man does the will of God, God hears him. But what good 
could the prayers of all good men do us, in comparison 
with Jesus Christ, who has died for us ? When he inter- 
cedes, he can speak of his own blood shed for our sins, 
and of the merits of his obedience. It is thus that his in- 
tercession for us is effectual. He is worthy. Worthy in 
himself, for he is the Son of God ; and he is worthy, by 
reason of what he has done, for he has deserved all he asks 
for. But to know how worthy Jesus Christ is, and what 
great reason we have to trust in him as our Intercessor, 
hear what he says of himself : " It is the will of God that 
all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the 
Father." He is worshiped by all in heaven. The saints 
and angels cast their crowns at his feet, saying, "Thou 
art worthy." He sits on the throne with God the Father ; 
and God loves him, and will hear him in our behalf. 

2. Christ knows your wants. 

He was once a child like one of you. He therefore 
knows, from his remembrance of his own feelings, how a 
child feels. And not only this, but, as the Son of God, 
he knows all things like his Father. You will recollect 
how he saw into the thoughts of the scribes and Pharisees, 
and "needed not that any should testify of man, for he 
knew what was in man." Just so, he knows all your 
thoughts, fears, sorrows, wants, and desires. You can 
hide nothing from his eye. And when he intercedes for 
you he knows exactly what you need. He knows better 
than your mother, and even better than you know yourself. 

3. Christ ever lives to intercede for you. 

Good parents may pray for you often. So may good 
ministers. But they cannot do it long. They must soon 
die, and leave you ; they will soon all be o:one. But Christ 



370 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

is alive to-day ; he will be alive to-morrow ; he will be 
alive when you come to die, and your soul goes into the 
eternal world. And when the graves are opened, when 
the sun goes down to rise no more, and the moon and the 
stars all fade away, he will still live, and live to intercede 
for his disciples. Death will take us all away, but he dies 
no more. 

4. Christ never changes. 

Almost everything changes. The weather changes, the 
trees change, the flowers change, and all things which Ave 
see. Friends also change. Some go away from us. Some 
are good friends when we are well, but leave us when we 
are in trouble. The severe lines of the poet are often true : 

" The friends who in our sunshine live, 

When winter comes, are flown ; 

And he who has but tears to give, 

Must weep those tears alone." 

Yes, we may all change, we may be disappointed, may 
be in sorrow, may be in sickness, be in the agonies of 
death, but Christ never changes, never leaves us, never 
forgets us. We may sink into the cold swelling river, and 
be drowning, and our friends stand on the banks, not dar- 
ing to go in after us ; but his love cannot be quenched by 
the cold waters of "many floods." AVe shall die, and 
sleep in the grave. We shall awake again at the resurrec- 
tion-day. But in all this, Christ does not change. " The 
same yesterday, to-day, and forever," he ever liveth to in- 
tercede for us. Oh, what a Redeemer ! 



AFTER THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION. 371 



AFTER THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION. 

By Rev. W. K CRAFTS, 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man hear my 
voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will 
sup with him, and he with me. — Rev. 3. 20. 

A king, who was as good as he was great, gave a poor 
man a beautiful house. In that country there was danger 
of robbers and wild beasts, and therefore the king gave 
him two soldiers as keepers and guards of the house, and 
two more strong men ; and when there was no danger 
these four men worked for the poor man. Within the 
house there was a grinding-machine. In those days they 
ground corn between two round stones, the upper one hav- 
ing a hole through the middle, so that they could keep 
pouring the corn or grain into it. The man had so much 
grain that he ground it three times a day. 

THE HOUSE HAD A WONDERFUL DOOR 

with an zEolian harp in it, so that very beautiful music 
came from it whenever the wind went through it ; and just 
inside the door was a still more wonderful musical instru- 
ment that gave a great variety of sounds. The windows of 
the house were also very carefully made, and each had a 
beautiful curtain that was let down every night. Every- 
thing in the house was as wonderful as it was convenient. 
A little way from the door was the well, where they raised 
the water by a cord and pail and wheel, and then brought 
it from the well in pitchers. One of the most beautiful 
things in the house was a golden bowl. All around the 
house were trees covered with green leaves and blossoms. 



372 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

and the sky was almost always clear, except from little 
clouds that came now and then, so that the stars shone on 
it every night, and the sunlight came with its happy in- 
fluence every day. 

The king had made the house himself, and arranged the 
trees, and then he freely gave it to the poor man as his 
own. A little while after this 

THE KING HIMSELF CAME TO THE HOUSE 

and knocked, and the poor man looked out and saw who it 
was, but he said to himself, ' ' If I let him in he'll stop the 
frolic we are having, and besides I am too busy to-day." 
So he kept the house fastened and said from within, 
''Come again to-morrow." The king felt hurt at such 
treatment, but he came again the next day, and again the 
poor man said to himself, 4 ' I'm not ready yet ;" and he 
cried once more from within, " To-morrow." So the king 
kept coming day after day for years, and told the man 
each time that if he was let in, he would live there and 
guard the poor man from danger, and give him everything 
needful to make him happy ; and after this house was worn 
out, the king said he would give him a more beautiful 
home near his own palace, that would always last. But 
every day the poor man said, " Come some other time," 
until, after coming a great many years, the king went away 
at length very sad, and never came again. Oh, how un- 
grateful and unkind was this poor man to the king who had 
given him so much, and then had come so often and so 
kindly to visit him ! 

After the king ceased to come, at length the keepers of 
the house began to tremble with fear, and the strong men 
were bowed with weakness, and the grinding stones were 
seldom heard, and the music was faint and sad, and the 
curtains were partly down in the windows, and the door 
was always shut, and the crreen leaves withered on the 






AFTER THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION. 373 

trees, and dark clouds hung over the sky. One morning 
the keepers and the strong men were 

FOUND DEAD, 

and the door was locked and the curtains down in the win- 
dows, and the music had ceased, and the golden bowl and 
the pitcher were broken, and the cord was lying loose near 
the well. The poor man had been driven away, and had 
no other home where he might rest again. If the king had 
been admitted to the house when he came, he would have 
given the man a better home when he was driven from 
this. But now it was too late. 

Some of you have already discovered what the story 
means. The great and good king is Jesus. After he was 
crucified and buried, he came out of the grave again and 
talked with his disciples for forty days, and then rose into 
the sky to be with God, and now he comes from heaven 
to our hearts and says, ' ' Behold, I stand at the door and 
knock ; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I 
will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with 
me." 

THE HOUSE HE GIVES TO THE POOR MAN 

is the human body ; the keepers are the hands ; the strong 
men are the limbs ; the grinders are the two rows of teeth ; 
the door is the mouth ; the JEolian harp — the wonderful 
musical instrument — is the voice ; the windows are the 
eyes ; the curtains are the eye-lids ; the green leaves are 
the hair ; and the clear skies represent the happiness of 
childhood when the house is new, Jesus made this house 
and has given it to each of us ; and he comes and knocks 
at our hearts, and says that if he can come in he will live 
with you and guard you and make you happy, and by and 
by, when this house breaks down and your bodies are 
buried in the grave, he will give you a home that will last 



374 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

forever near his own palace in heaven. Jesus is knocking 
at your hearts to-day, if you have not already become a 
Christian. Do not say, " No room for Jesus," but rather, 
" Come in, my Saviour." If you reject him, the evil days 
will come when he will knock no more, when your hands 
will tremble and your legs will bow themselves with age, 
and the mouth will close because the teeth are few, and the 
voice "will become low and the eyes will be darkened, and 
the hair will become white as the almond blossoms, and 
you will have no Saviour to cheer you ; and at last the 
brain will cease to think, and the lungs and heart will be 
stilled in death, and you will go alone to the long home of 
the grave, with no prospect of a home with Jesus. 

Let it not be so with any of us, but while Jesus knocks 
at our hearts and waits, may we heed the words, "Re- 
member thy Creator in the days of thy youth." 

A wonderful house have I, 

That God has made for me, 
With windows to see the sky, 

And keepers strong and free. 

The door has a tuneful harp, 

A mill to grind my bread, 
And there is a golden bowl, 

A beautiful silver thread. 

A fountain is in the house, 

A pitcher lies at hand, 
And strong men God has given 

To bear me o'er the land. 

The keepers must work for God, 

The harp must sing His praise, 
The windows look to heaven, 

The strong men walks His ways. 

And when this house shall fall, 

As death at last shall come, 
The good have a better house 

Above, in Jesus' home. 



THE CHILDREN'S CHRISTIAN BAND. 375 



THE CHILDREN'S CHRISTIAN BAND. 



" MY LAMBS.' ! 



Dear Little Friend : — Can you, from your heart, 
answer "Yes" to the following questions? — 

Do you love Jesus'? 

Are you trusting in Jesus as your own precious Saviour? 

Will you try, by the help of Jesus, to give up everything 
that is sinful ? 

Will you try to be more like Jesus every day ? 



'SEEK ME EARLY. 



NAMES AND RESIDENCES:- 



376 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 



PLAN 

FOR READING THE WHOLE NEW TESTAMENT 

IN ORDER OF THE EVENTS, AND IN TEN-MINUTE 
DAILY PORTIONS.* 

Arranged by Rev. W. F. CRAFTS. 

The chronological arrangement of the Gospels which 
follows is based on Newcome's Harmony of the Four 
Evangelists, as given in Bagster's Bible. Bagster's "Con- 
solidated Gospels" puts the chronological arrangement into 
a still more convenient form. (W.) Luke 1. 1-4 ; John 
1. 1-18. (Th.) Luke 1. 5-25. (F.) 1. 26-38. (Sa.) 
39-56. (Su.) 57-79. 

1st Week.— (M., ) Matt. 1. 18-25 ; 1-17 ; Luke 3. 

23-38. (Tu.) Luke 2. 8-20 ; Matt. 1. 25 ; Luke 2. 
21. (W.) 22-38. (Th.) Matt. 2. 1-23 ; Luke 2. 39. 
(F.) 40-52. (Sa.) Matthew 3. 1-12 ; Mark 1. 1-8. 
(Su.) John 1. 8 ; 3. 1-17. 

2d Week.— (M., ) Matt, 3. 13-17 ; Mark 1. 9-11 ; 

Luke 3. 21-23. (Tu.) Matt. 4. 1-11 ; Mark 1. 12, 
13. (W.) Luke 4.1-13. (Th.) John 1. 19-34. (F.) 
John 1. 35-51. (Sa.) John 2. 1-12. (Su.) John 2. 
13-25 ; 3. 1-21. 

3d Week.— (M., ) John 3. 22-36. (Tu.) Matt. 4. 

12 ; 14. 3-5 ; Mark 1. 14 ; 6. 17-20 ; Luke 3. 18 ; 
4. 14 ; 3. 19, 20. (W.) John 4. 1-26. (Th.) John 
4. 27-42. (F.) Matt. 4. 17 : Mark 1. 14, 15 ; Luke 
4. 14 ; John 4. 43-54. (Sa.) Matt. 4. 13-16 ; Luke 

*From a chronological arrangement of the whole Bible on two 
yearly bookmarks, sold at $2 per 100, at S. S. Teacher's Reading 
Room, 304 Fourth Avenue, New York. 



PLAN FOR READING. 377 

4. 15-31. (Su.) Matt. 4. 18-22 ; Mark 1. 16-20 ; 

Luke 5. 1—11. 
4th Week.— (M., ) Mark 1. 21-28 ; Luke 4. 31-37 ; 

(Tu.) Matthew 8. 14-17; 4. 23-25. (W.) Mark 1. 

29-39. (Th.) Luke 4. 38-44. (F.) Matt. 4. 2-4; 

Mark 1. 40-45 ; Luke 5. 12-16. (Sa.) Matt, 9. 2-8 ; 

Mark 2. 1-12 ; Luke 15. 17-26 ; Matt. 9. 9 ; Mark 

2. 13, 14 ; Luke 5. 27-28. (Su.) John 5. 1-18. 
5th Week.— (M., ) 19-30. (Tu.) 31-47. (W.) 

Matt. 12. 1-8 ; Mark 2. 23-28 ; Luke 6. 1-5. (Th.) 

Matt. 12. 9-21 ; Mark 3. 1-12 ; Luke 6. 6-11. (F.) 

Matt. 10. 2-4 ; Mark 3. 13-19 ; Luke 6. 12-19.- 

(Sa.) Matt. 5. 1-16. (Su.) 17-30. 
athWEEK.— (M., ) Matt. 5. 31-48. (Tu.) 6. 1-18. 

(W.) 19-34. (Th.) 7. 1-14. (F.) 15-29. (Sa.) 

Luke 6. 20-49. (Su.) Matt. 8. 1, 5-13 ; Luke 7. 

1-17. 
7th Week.— (M., ) Matthew 11. 2-19; Luke 7. 

18-35 ; Matthew 11. 20-30. (Tu.) Luke 7. 36-50. 

(AT.) Matt. 9. 35 ; 12. 22-37 ; Mark 6. 6 ; 3. 20-30 ; 

Luke 8. 1-3; 11. 14-23. (Th.) Matt, 12. 38-45, 

Luke 11. 16, 29-36, 24-26. (F.) 27, 28 ; Matt. 12. 

46-50 ; Mark 3. 31-35 ; Lu. 8. 19-21. (Sa.) Luke 

11. 37-54. (Su.) Luke 12. 1-59 ; 13. 1-9. 

8th Week.— (M., ) Matt. 13. (Tu.) Mark 4. 1-34. 

(\Y.) Luke 8. 4-14. (Th.) Matt. 8. 18-27 : Mark 
4. 35-41 ; Luke 8. 22 ; 9. 57-62 ; 8. 22-25. (F.) 
Matthew 8. 23-34 ; Mark 5. 1-20 ; Luke 8. 26-39. 
(Sa.) Matt. 9. 1 ; Mark 5. 21 ; Luke 8. 40 ; Matt. 9. 
10-17 ; Mark 2. 15-22 ; Lu. 5. 29-39. (Su.) Matt, 
9. 18-26 ; Mark 5. 22-43 ; Luke 8. 41-56. 

9th Week.— (M., ) Matt. 9. 27-34; 13. 54-58; 

Mark 6. 1-6. (Tu.) Matt, 9. 36-39 ; 10. 1, 5-42 ; 
Mark 6. 7-11 ; Luke 9. 1-5 ; Matt, 11. 1 ; Mark 6. 

12, 13 ; Luke 9. 6. (W.) Matthew 14. 6-12 ; Mark 



378 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

6. 21-29 ; Matt. 14. 1-2 ; Mark 6. 14-16 ; Luke 9. 
7-9 ; Mark 6. 30, 31 ; Luke 9. 10. (Th.) Matt, 14. 
13-21 ; Mark 6. 32-44 ; Luke 9. 10-17 ; John 6. 
1-14. (F.) Matt. 14. 22-36 ; Mark 6. 45-56 ; John 
6. 15-21. (Sa.) 22-71 ; 7. 1. (Su.) Matthew 15. 
1-20 ; Mark 7. 1-23. 
10th Week.— (M., ) Matthew 15. 21-28 ; Mark 7. 

24-30 ; Matthew 15. 29-31 ; Mark 7. 31-37. (Tu.) 
Matthew 15. 32-39 ; Mark 8. 1-10 ; Matt. 16. 1-4 ; 
Mark 8. 11, 12. (W.) Matthew 16. 4-12 ; Mark 8. 
13-26. (Th.) Matthew 16. 13-20 ; Mark 8. 27-30 ; 
Luke 9. 18-21. (F.) Matthew 16. 21-28 ; Mark 8. 
31-38 ; 9. 1 ; Lu. 9. 22-27. (Sa.) Matt. 17. 1-13 ; 
Mark 9. 2-13 ; Luke 9. 28-36 ; John 1. 14 ; 2 Peter 
1. 16-18; Matt. 17. 14-21; Mark 9. 14-29; Luke 

9. 37-43. (Su.) Matt, 17. 22, 23 ; Mark 9. 30-32 ; 
Luke 9. 43-45 ; Matt, 17. 24-27 ; Mark 9. 33. 

11th Week.— (M., ) Matt. 18. 1-35 ; 9. 33-50 ; 9. 

46-50. (Tu.) 10. 1-10. (W.) John 7. 2-53; 8. 

2-11. (Th.) 12-59. (F.) 9. 10. (Sa.) Luke 10. 

17-37. (Su.) 11. 1-13; 13. 10-35. 
12th Week.— (M., ) Luke 14. (Tu.) Luke 15. 

(W.) 16., 17. 1-10. (Th.) 17. 11 ; 9. 51-56 ; 17. 

12-19. (F.) 17. 20-37. (Sa.) 18. 1-14; 10. 

38-42 ; John 10. 22-42. (Su.) 11. 
13th Week.— (M., ) 19. 1-12; Mark 10. 1-12; 

Matt, 19. 13-15 ; Mark 10. 13-16 ; Lu. 18. 15-17 ; 

Matthew 19. 16-30; 20. 1-16; Mark 10. 17-31; 

Luke 18. 18-30. (Tu.) Matthew 20. 17-19 ; 10. 

31-34 ; Luke 18. 31-34 ; Matthew 20. 20-28 ; Mark 

10. 35-45. (W.) Matthew 20. 29-34; Mark 10. 
46-52 ; Luke 18. 35-43 ; 19. 1-28. (Th.) Sat. be- 
fore crucifixion. John 11. 55-57 ; 12. 1, 9-11. 
Palm Sunday.— Matthew 21. 1-11, 14-17 ; Mark 11. 
1-11; Luke 19. 29-44; John 12. 12-50. (F.) 



PLAN FOR READING. 379 

Monday before Crucifixion. — Matthew 21. 18, 19, 12, 
13 ; Mark 11. 12-19 ; Luke 19. 45-48 ; Matthew 21. 
20-22 ; Mark 11. 20-26. (Sa.) Tuesday before Cru- 
cifixion.— Matthew 21. 23-46 ; 22. 1-14 ; Mark 11. 
27-33 ; 12. 1-12 ; Luke 20. 1-19. (Su.) Matt. 22. 
15-46 ; Mark 12. 12-37 ; Luke 20. 20-44. . 
14th Week.— (M., ) Matthew 23. 1-39 ; Mark 12. 

38-40 ; Luke 20. 45-47 ; Mark 12. 41-44 ; Luke 

21. 1-4. (Tu.) Matthew 24. 1-51 ; 25. 1-30 ; Mark 
13. 1-37 ; Luke 21. 5-36 ; Matthew 25. 31-46 ; 21. 
37, 38. (W.) Wed. before Crucifixion.— Matt. 26. 
1-16 : Mark 14. 1-11 ; Luke 22. 1-6 ; John 12. 
2-8. (Th.) Thursday before Crucifixion.— Matt. 26. 
17-19 ; Mark 14. 12-16 ; 22. 7-13 ; Matt, 26. 20 ; 
Mark 14. 17 ; Luke 22. 14, 24-30, 15-18 ; John 13. 
1-20. (F.) Matthew 26. 21-25 ; Mark 14. 18-21 ; 
Luke 22. 21-23 ; John 13. 21-35. (Sa.) Matt. 26. 
31-35 ; Mark 14. 27-31 ; Luke 22. 31-38 ; John 13. 
36-38. (Sa.) Matthew 26. 26 ; Mark 14. 22 ; Luke 

22. 19 ; 1 Cor. 11. 23, 24 ; John 14. ; Matthew 26. 
27-29 ; Mark 14. 23-25 ; Luke 22. 20 ; 1 Cor. 11. 
25. 

loth Week.— (M., ) John 15. 1-27; 16. 1-33. 

(Tu.) 17. 1-26 ; Matthew 26. 30, 36-46 ; Mark 14. 
26 ; Psa. 113-118, inclusive ; the Passover " Hymn ;" 
Mark 14. 32-42 ; Luke 22. 39-46 ; John 18. 1. 
(W.) Matthew 26. 47-56; Mark 14. 43-52; Luke 
22. 47-53 ; John 18. 2-12. (Th.) Matthew 26. 57. 
58, 69-75 ; Mark 14. 53, 54, 66-72 ; Luke 22. 
54-62 ; John 18. 13-18, 24-27 ; Matthew 26. 57, 
59-68 ; Mark 14. 53, 55-65 ; Luke 22. 66-71, 
63-65 ; John 18. 19-23, 28. (F.) Friday of Cruci- 
fixion.— Matthew 27. 1, 2, 11-14 ; Mark 15. 1-15 ; 
Luke 23. 1-5; John 18. 28-38; Luke 23. 6-12; 
Matt. 27. 15-23 ; Mark 15. 6-14 ; Luke 23. 13-23 ; 



380 SERMONS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

John 18. 39, 40. (Sa.) Matthew 27. 26-31 ; Mark 
15. 15-20 ; Luke 23. 23-25 ; John 19. 1-16 ; Matt. 

27. 3-10; Acts 1. 18, 19. (Su.) Matt, 27. 35-50; 
Mark 15. 21-23 ; Luke 23. 26-33 ; John 19. 17. 

16th Week. — (M., ) Matthew 27. 35-50 ; Mark 15. 

24-37; Luke 23. 33-46; John 19. 18-30. (Tu.) 
Matthew 27. 51-61 ; Mark 15. 38-47 ; Luke 23. 
45, 47-56 ; John 19. 31-42. Saturday after Cruci- 
fixion.— Matthew 27. 62-66. (W.) Easter.— Matt, 

28. 2-4 ; 27. 52, 53 ; Mark 16. 1 ; Matthew 28. 1, 
5-8 ; Mark 16. 2-8 ; Luke 24. 1-11 ; John 20. 1, 2. 
(Th.) Luke 24. 12 ; John 20. 3-10 ; Mark 16. 9-11 ; 
John 20. 11-18 ; Matthew 28. 9-15. (F.) Mark 16. 
12, 13 ; Luke 24. 13-36 ; 1 Cor. 15. part of verse 5. 
(Sa.) Mark 16. 14-18; Luke 24. 36-49; John 20. 
19-23 ; First Sunday after Resurrection. — John 20. 
24-29. (Su.) Matt, 28. 16 ; John 21 ; 1-24 ; Matt. 
28. 16-20 ; 1 Cor. 15. 6, 7 ; Acts 1. 3-8. 

1 7th Week. — (M., ) Forty days after resurrection — 

Mark 16. 19, 20 ; Luke 24. 50-53 ; Acts 1. 9-12 ; 
John 20. 30, 31 ; 21. 25. (Tu.) Acts 1. 1-3, 12-14. 
Fifty days after resurrection — 2. (W.) 3., 4. 1-31. 
(Th.) 4.'32-37 ; 5. (F.) 6., 7. (Sa.) 8., 9. (Su.) 
10., 11. [A chapter and a half about one man's 
soul. Longer than the description of creation.] 

18th Week.— M., ) 12., 13. (Tu.) 14., 15. (W.) 

16. 1-6; 1 Tim.* 1., 2., 3. (Th.) Gal. 1., 2., 3. 
(F.) 4., 5. (Sa.) 5., 6. (Su.) Philip. 1., 2. 

19th Week.— (M., ) 3., 4. (Tu.) Acts 17. 1-10 ; 

1 Thes. 1. (W.) 2., 3. (Th.) 4., 5. (F.) 2 Thes. 

* Each epistle is introduced, not in the order in which it was writ- 
ten, but rather in connection with the first references in Acts to the 
person or place to which it was sent, as it will thus be of most ser- 
vice. 



PLAN FOR READING. 381 

1., 2. (Sa.) 3., 4. (Sa.) Acts 17. 10-34 ; 18. 1-18 ; 
' 1 Cor. 1. 

20th Week. — (M., ) 2., 3., 4. (Tu.) 5., 6., 7. 

(W.) 8., 9. (Th.) 10., 11. (F.) 12., 13. (Sa.) 14. 

(Su.) 15. 
21st Week.— (M., ) 16. (Tu.) 2 Cor. 1. (W.) 2. 

(Th.) 3. (F.) 4. (Sa.) 5. (Su.) 6., 7., 8. 
22d Week.— (M., ) 9. (Tu.) 10. (W.)ll. (Th.) 

12. (F.) 13. (Sa.) Acts 18. 19-28 ; 19. 20. (Su.) 

Eph. 1., 2., 3. 
23d Week.— (M., ) 4., 5., 6. (Tu.) Acts 21., 22., 

23. (W.) 24., 25., 26. (Th.) 27., 28. 1-10. (F.) 

28. 11-31 ; Romans 1. (Sa.) 2. (Su.) 3. 
24th Week.— (M., ) 4. (Tu.) 5. (W.) 6. (Th.) 

7. (F.) 8. (Sa.) 9. (Su.) 10. 
25th Week.— (M., ) 11. (Tues.) 12. (AY.) 13. 

(Th.) 14. (F.) 15., 16. (Sat.) Philemon. (Sun.) 

Col. 1. 
26th Week.— (M., ) 2. (Tu.) 3. (W.) 4. (Th.) 

Titus, 1. (F.) 2. (Sa.) 3. (Su.) Heb. 1. 
27th Week.— (M., ) 2., 3., 4. (Tu.) 5., 6. (W.) 

7., 8. (Th.) 9., 10. (F.) 11., 12. (Sa.) 13. (Su.) 

2 Tim. (Paul giving his last messages.) 1., 2. 
28th Week.— (M., l ) 3., 4. (Tu.) Jas. 1. (W.) 2. 

(Th.) 3., 4. (F.) 5. (Sa.) 1 Peter 1. (Su.) 2. 
29th Week.— (M., ) 3. (Tu.) 4. (W.) 5. (Th.) 

2 Peter 1. (F.) 2. (Sa.) 3. (Su.) 1 John 1., 2. 
30th Week.— (M., ) 3. (Tu.) 4. (W.) 5. (Th.) 

2 John. (F.) 3 John. (Sa.) Jude. (Su.) Rev. 1. 
31st Week.— (M., ) 2. (Tu.) 3. (W.) 4. (Th.) 

5. (F.) 6. (Sa.) 7. (Su.) 8. 
32dW EE K.— (M., )9. (Tu.)10. (W.)ll. (Th.) 

12. (F.) 13. (Sa.) 14. (Su.) 15. 
33d Week.— (M., ) 16. (Tu.) 17. (W.) 18. (Th.) 

19. (F.) 20. (Sa.) 21. (Su.) 22. 



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